The Freaks in the Middle
by Principles of Magic
Summary: Future Fic. "There's only so many 'I'm sorry' shots you can buy someone; people either forgive you, or vomit everywhere." Summary: When Hope brings home a friend from college, Elijah learns there's more than just family blocking his path to love. Slightly AU with canon. DarkHumor. Multi-chapter. M for language. [ElijahxOC, HayleyxKlaus established, HayleyxElijah past relationship].
1. Freaks

_Fucking first day of school._

Grade school, elementary school, high school, college: the first day of school is the best day of the year (except the last day of course). You pick out the perfect outfit, catch up with friends you haven't seen all summer, and in college, every class gets out early, since all you ever do on Syllabus Day is go over the syllabus.

Leah had experienced her fair share of first days in her lifetime, and this was her final one. Senior year had finally rolled around and this fall term would be her last. Pro: Seniority means you get the best dorm on campus in the housing lottery. Con: A single room is fucking expensive. Pro: You know it takes exactly 17 minutes to get across campus to the History department. Con: You _still_ have to take classes in the History Department. Pro: There is tons of free food at the Activities Fair tonight. Con: You gotta feed yourself for the rest of term.

Money issues kept Leah up most nights, so she didn't at all appreciate being woken up from the precious little sleep she did get.

From her open window she could hear students filling the quad outside her dorm: chattering, hollering…and someone was playing Top 40 radio obnoxiously loud. Leah squirmed deeper into her sheets, unceremoniously thrusting her phone off her bed. For her, today was just another reminder of how empty her life was: In 183 days, she would be graduating from college, and while other students had friends and family to help them adjust to the real world, land them fancy internships and co-sign on their first apartment,

Leah was on her own.

Since her mother had died when she was young, she had been raised as a ward of her Parish. All she knew was that her mother had been a well-respected leader of the witch community. Naturally she had assumed, and secretly hoped, that someone would show up one day and answer all the questions she had. If her mother was so respected, how could the witch community have let her daughter grow up without a family? But as Leah grew older, she gave up ever learning about her witch heritage; no powers ever manifested, and so as the years passed, Leah began to think that maybe the stories about witch elders and vampire kings and the Mikaelson _M _that decorated everything in the Quarter—that these stories were just that, stories.

Freshmen year had been rough. Leah blamed it on her sheltered teenage years. It was an adjustment, meeting students from across the country, tackling the difficult course load, and learning that not everything boys said was sincere. There had been a lot of firsts in college, some experiences better than others, but Leah was tough and resilient, or so she would like herself to believe. She took a steely pride in being independent and unattached, but while being on her own had been fine so far, she wasn't so sure she could live like this forever.

After all, forever was a very long time.

Her phone rings again, the opening chords of a folk indie song. Brit Lit 2 is at 10am, across campus. If she times this just right, Leah thinks as she swings her feet over her bed and onto the cool linoleum of her dorm room floor, she can grab coffee at the Grind and not be late.

She makes to check the time, and groans when she realizes she must have knocked her phone off the bed. It's a cheap, pay-as-you-go option, and the back casing cracked and detached when it hit the floor, causing the battery to skid under the bed and the phone to power off.

Leah curses, pulling her strawberry blonde hair from her mouth as she snaps the battery back in place. There is a musical chime as the phone starts up again and the display flashes.

10:15am.

_Fuck._

Never mind about the coffee then.

/

_Haha, just kidding_, she thought to herself thirty minutes later, _Coffee's a must._

Leah thanked the barista at the campus' local coffee shop as he handed her a large iced coffee. August in New Orleans was hot, and she worshiped at the altar of iced coffee. A quick glance at her phone showed it to be 10:45am. Thinking it rude (and useless) to show up late on the first day of class, Leah would make it up by arriving early to her next one: European History at 11am.

Leah was a European Studies major. She had received a scholarship, which was the only reason she could afford any college. Sometimes, when she was being especially self-effacing, she liked to call it her "pity prize;" her high school guidance counselor had strong-armed her into writing a super weepy college essay about growing up in an "alternative living situation" and although Leah felt horrible doing so (the group home was run by a nurturing order of Sisters and was actually a wonderful experience), she needed the money for college.

Once, the Sisters of the Holy Cross had taken the older girls to New York City for a field trip. That's where she first found her love of art and language and culture, and after chatting up Sister Elizabeth the entire drive back about Neo-Classical Art and the court of Louis XVI, getting into college and being drowned in these discussions everyday became her life obsession.

And now here she was, ten minutes before class, about to begin the last course she needed to complete her Euro Studies degree.

And after that, when they put that diploma in her hands, then what?

She slurped through her straw absentmindedly until a body plopping into the seat next to her jolted her from her reverie. The body belonged to a honey-haired girl who was wearing the green and blue senior class shirt that the Senior Gift Committee had been pushing on everyone last semester. To be honest, Leah totally wanted one—but sometimes this school forgot that not everyone had $15 to throw around on spirit gear.

Lost in her thoughts again, she stared off into space as the room began to fill with students.

/

T-shirt girl had just responded to a text from an over-protective parent when she realized that she had forgotten her pencil case at home. She remembered, because she also didn't have her phone charger, which was with her pencil case, which was at home on the kitchen table. It's no surprise—first days are a chaotic, emotional mess at her place. You would think every day was the first day of kindergarten—her parents went the whole nine yards—photos and bagged lunches and even hugs. She's 23 and a senior in college and she still has to "text me when you arrive." Moms, dads, uncles, sigh.

Damn, she needs a pen.

Ahh, the girl next to her is nervously biting on the one in her mouth. Perfect, she can borrow a pen from her…not the one in her mouth, but another one.

"Psst, hey."

Leah turns. T-shirt girl wants something. She smiles, pulling the pen from between her teeth.

"Hi," Leah shoots back. Ugh, what does this girl want? She glances at the string of olive and sky beads around her neck, a good sign T-shirt girl's one of those loud, chatty, party girls. The kind who forgot to bring a pen to class, even though it's the only thing you need to bring.

"Can I borrow a pen?"

See?

"Huh, yeah of course." Leah needs the Karma points. She awkwardly bends around her desk to reach her bag. Before she comes back up, T-shirt girls speaks. _Ugh, here we go._

"You're a life-saver, first days are always a mess—I'd leave my head at home if it wasn't attached to my body." That's a hybrid joke, not that pen girl knows that, though maybe she does? A weak smile. "I'm Hope."

Leah comes up for air. She hands her the pen.

"Leah St. Ann."

That's it. No commentary? The wheels in Hope's mind whirl. _Odd. _What witch nowadays couldn't recognize her? Was pen girl from out of town?

"Hey, aren't you in Tudor England too?"

Leah knows she just made a face, but come on, what? How on earth did she know that? Tudor England doesn't even start until tomorrow. Maybe she saw the class roster? It's up on Blackboard. Creeper.

"Yeah, I assume you are too?"

"Yep…ah, this is excellent! We can be study partners!" Hope knew she was laying on the clingy thick, but she was desperate to make this work this time. She laughs, more at herself. "We can share notes, like on class stuff and magic stuff. What's your cell?"

Leah coughs. That last sip of coffee just went up her nose. "What?"

"Cell number? I thought we could swap contact info?"

Leah can't believe what she is hearing. "No, before that…magic….stuff?"

Hope freezes. Shit, she totally read this wrong.

"You're not a witch? Did I read this wrong?"

Leah tries to say something and close her mouth at the same time. Her thoughts come out as a long slow whisper. Some of the students in the seats below turn around at the sound she is making. She doesn't care because…magic stuff? What the fuck did they put in her iced coffee?

_A witch?_

Is today the day that someone finally shows up and answers all the questions she had?

Stay cool, Leah. T-shirt girl knows you got witch blood in you. How does she know? Can you smell it? Damn, I should have just taken the extra ten minutes and showered this morning.

Stay cool, stay cool.

"I….I…you…yeah…you know about witches?"

Nailed it.

Hope cringes; she's totally botched it already. It's just that she's bad with introductions—who doesn't know a Mikaelson when they see one? She could avoid these awkward situations if she just tried to make normal friends, _human friends._ It's just that the supernatural ones at least have some chance of gaining her mother's approval. And thanks to her father, she can forget about even thinking about bringing a boy home.

Breathe, Hope. Maybe this is salvable. If pen girl knows who you are, then maybe there's something to work with-if not, it's a lost cause anyway. There's no way she can bring Leah home without her freaking the fuck out and running for the hills, witch or not.

The door to the lecture room opens; the professor walks in and the students' hush. Hope leans back in her chair, turning to whisper to pen girl.

"Find me on Facebook. My name's Hope…Hope _Mikaelson._

Come on, pen girl. Know a Mikaelson when you see one.

"Oh holy shit," Leah breathes. Hope cheers internally.

Leah turns to face the blackboard slowly as the professor begins to talk about the syllabus. She's not listening, she's freaking out inside. T-shirt girl is a fucking vampire princess.

The stories are _definitely_ true.


	2. Like the Wind

Hope killed the car outside the large center hall colonial. It's not a castle, but it's definitely a fortress of solitude. They had just driven about forty minutes from campus down some deserted road that led away from the main city center. It had been two weeks since Syllabus Day. The two girls had ended up trading cell numbers the next day in Tudor England and had been texting back and forth since then.

Hope Mikaelson did not actually have a Facebook (she actually was enrolled under a different name altogether) but she did have a great sense of humor and a very generous habit of buying whenever the two went out for drinks. Hope was at first disappointed that Leah didn't actually have any manifested powers (not that she would ever voice this opinion), but after several afternoons attending campus events, open mics, and study halls during which zero homework got done, she felt that Leah was sane enough to meet the family.

"My dad's going to ask like a million questions and I'm so sorry in advance," she yanked the keys from the ignition. Her keychain was a large, expensive M studded with…were those diamonds?

"And your mom's going to judge me silently from the corner," Leah reminded herself. She had no idea what to expect once she stepped foot inside that plantation house, but the idea of meeting someone's family, seeing someone's family home, experiencing first hand how a normal family worked – it was the most exciting thing ever (not that she would ever voice this opinion either). "Anyone else? Siblings? A dog?"

Leah and Hope stepped out of the car, hauling their school bags after them. The gravel crunched under their feet as they approached the front door.

"What? No," Hope shook her head, distracted as she was trying to remember if anyone would be home. There were no cars in the driveway except hers. "Well, there's Elijah."

"Elijah?"

"My uncle, but he has a place in town so you probably won't see him." Hope fumbled with the key in the lock before pushing it open and stepping in. The house was silent and beautiful. The foyer opened into a living room on the right and an open planned dining room/kitchen to the right behind a smaller sitting room. Hope threw her bags onto the dining room table and Leah followed suit.

Hope called out, but there was no answer. Turning to Leah, her blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "No one's home! Which means…" Bouncing into the bright kitchen she slammed her iPod into a docket on the countertop and hit a button. Dance music flooded the house, echoing off the crisp, cool walls as Hope opened up the French doors onto the side patio.

"So…Professor Thompson's reading or…the pool?"

'You have a pool?"

/

It was two hours later when another car rolled in. Klaus cut the engine, pleased to see Hope's car in the park. He and Hayley were just returning from town, where they had picked up a new supply of blood bags. Hayley couldn't wait to get out of the car. She hated fighting in small spaces; it just made her feel… trapped. It didn't help that Klaus' huge ego made any space feel like a closet. The couple had gotten into an argument on their way home, as they usually did, several times a day. This one, to no one's surprise, was about their daughter.

"Ah, look she's home. Now you can ask her how she feels being trailed by bodyguards everyday." Hayley threw open the door on her side and immediately walked around to the trunk, waiting for Klaus to pop the trunk door.

"Fine, if you rather, don't consider them bodyguards. How about, concerned citizens?" He spoke low and obviously annoyed. To be honest, half the time he started these fights just for the make-up sex, but this was about Hope. This was serious. When he had learned that several of the fine co-eds on Hope's campus were Crescent Wolves, he ordered them to "check in" on her and report back. Hayley, apparently, was opposed to forced labor.

"I don't see what the problem is, they are, after all love, your wolves." Klaus slammed the car door louder than necessary, just as Hayley lifted the cooler of blood bags from the trunk. She rounded on Klaus, shoving the cooler into his arms.

"No one, Klaus, wants to ensure her safety more than me, but there is no way I am going to suffocate her social life by having a pack of jacked up teenage werewolves follow her around campus."

Although he knew he would pay for it, Klaus couldn't help but laugh, albeit a bit cruelly. "And you think texting her ever five minutes is a better solution?"

Klaus knew by the way she slammed the trunk door closed that she was not amused.

"Don't frikken start on me about- "

Stop. Freeze.

Two screams, coming from the house. Klaus and Hayley both turned, their parental instincts flaring at the sound of two voices. One was Hope, they would know the sound of her voice anywhere. The other…?

/

Leah screamed and dropped the bowl of salsa. Her head hit the back of the fridge as a force slammed into her. The hand around her neck was making it rather hard for the string of obscenities to make it out of her mouth; if she wasn't struggling violently for air, she would think it odd that the woman with her hand wrapped around her throat looked remarkably like Hope herself. Through her watery eyes she could see Hope screaming at another figure in the doorway.

"Fucking hell, mom, let her go! That's my _friend_! I _told _you I was bringing a friend over!"

Leah tried to look as non-threatening and unassuming as possible while being strangled. It must have worked because the woman's grip relaxed and finally released.

"We heard screaming," the man said grimly from the doorway. Leah would say that he was handsome, except she knew that must be Hope's dad. So gross.

"The doors are open," Hope gestured, exasperated. "A bird flew in, like right into my face. So, yes I screamed. No one is trying to kill me." This was a standard response for Hope. She often felt like she ended every phone call, email, and text to her family with "no one is trying to kill me." She knew some bad shit had gone down when she was born; she had lived with her aunt in Nebraska (then Montreal, then Edinburgh, then Nebraska again) until she was ten. _We made a mess_, her mother would say through tears, _and we had to stay behind and clean it up. _The tears were the worse, because she knew it had to be bad for her mom to cry. Usually, Hayley Marshall had a steely, tough as nails disposition; she walked around the Quarter like a queen with murder on her mind, and everyone knew she would kill for her family…like now, apparently.

Unfortunately.

It made it hard to have much of a social life.

The woman (this must be Hope's mom, Leah thought; throttling stranger's your daughter brings home is such a mom-thing to do) backed off, but she didn't look the least bit remorseful. Hope showed just how unhappy she was with her parents like any child did, by loudly stomping around the kitchen muttering curses as she picked up the broken pieces of the salsa bowl.

Leah rubbed her raw neck, turning to the man. "Mr. Mikaelson," overly-formal is probably best in this situation, Leah thought. "I'm Leah St. Ann, I know Hope from school. We didn't mean to startle you."

"Who are your parents?"

Really? We're like two seconds in.

"DAD!"

"What?" Klaus mused, completely unfazed as he set the cooler on the kitchen island. "You know how I feel about witches, and a witch is only as strong as their ancestors. No offense, darling, but I assume Hope here has filled you in on our family's history with the witches of this city."

She nodded. She glanced down at her bare feet and noticed there was salsa covering her toes, and thought darkly _at least it's not my own blood._

She was no longer hungry.

Leah reeled, looking back at the man who had eyes just like Hope. "Death and destruction, I completely understand, Mr. Mikaelson. Truth is I was left on the steps of St. Ann's when I was ten months old so I don't know who my parents are. I know I have witch blood, but I've got no powers, nothing. I am the least threatening witch you will ever find." She smiled because she thought it would help. Her heart was pounding and to say she felt cornered was the understatement of the century.

"Best witch is a dead witch," Hayley spoke darkly from the corner, as if to herself but clearly loud enough for everyone in the small kitchen to hear. And then, in a sing-song tone, she added: "Welcome to our home, Leah."

Hayley grabbed the cooler and left the kitchen. Hope turned as red as the salsa still splattered on the floor.

Klaus grinned like a fool, highly amused at Hayley's remarks. She always did make a good first impression. In a much better mood than a second ago, Klaus swung his arms behind him and made for the door to the hallway.

"Well, you two enjoy yourselves then." He all but patted his daughter on the head as he passed.

Hope waited until she was sure her parents were both down in the basement (talking about Leah, no doubt) until she grabbed a cloth from under the sink and handed it to her friend.

_Oh, god, I hope she's still gonna be my friend after that._

"For your feet."

Leah took the cloth gingerly and began to clean off her toes. Talking still hurt.

"So, did I pass?"

It was a joke, but not really.

Hope cringed, pulling down tortilla chips from the cabinet. "I am so…sorry, that was…actually much better than I thought but—"

"—but still pretty bad," Leah had to admit, now wiping the salsa from the side of the refrigerator. God, this shit got everywhere.

"Yeah, you passed. And sorry about the racist witch remarks," she filled another bowl with salsa. "There's a reason the witches aren't big in the Quarter anymore."

Was this the reason no one came forward to claim her at the girls' home? Or the reason her powers never manifested? Are witches a race or a species? Leah pocketed these thoughts for another time, taking the bowl from Hope.

"So, you sure it's still okay for me to stay…I can go."

"Nope, we are going to finish this Charmed marathon if it kills us. A promise is a promise and you promised, Leah St. Ann."

"Ugh," Leah groaned, immediately in better spirits knowing she was no longer in mortal peril. "I didn't realize there were so many seasons!"

The two girls found their spots on the couch again.

Hope grabbed the remote. "You are in it to win it, my friend. As my mom always says, 'don't make promises you can't keep.'"

Leah threw a chip at her.


	3. Dance Dance Dance

Five episodes later, the girls were lying on the sitting room floor in their cami pajamas, legs up in the air as they flipped through a magazine. Printouts of their class readings lay scattered around them, highlighters and paperclips everywhere. Their hair smelled of chlorine from the pool and sugar from the bag of gummy worms they had called dinner.

"I still find it weird your kitchen has so much normal food." Leah flipped a page; the next article promised, "10 Signs Older is Too Old."

"Yeah, well, the fridge in the kitchen's mine basically. The _other_ fridge is in the basement." Leah made a face at the thought of a giant cooler full of blood bags, causing Hope to break out in laughter. Leaping up, a whirlwind of honey curls, she gathered up all the candy wrappers and jumped up to toss them in the bin.

Leah yawned, which hurt since her face ached in general from earlier. They had already agreed that it was too late to drive her back to campus, and the least Hope could do after that episode of parental control earlier was to allow Leah to sleep over. Tomorrow was Saturday, and if they left at dawn they could avoid any traffic back into town. So Leah had borrowed some pajamas and swallowed down the idea that she was going to spend the night under the same roof as Klaus Mikaelson. Even at Holy Cross House they told stories of _the hybrid, _though they were simply stories to most of the children - if they could see her now, right?

Now in the kitchen, grabbing her iPod Hope switched to a song with pulsing beats. Leah sprang up in recognition; she yelled across the hallway.

"Holy shit, I know this song! I danced to it once at a talent show in high school. I can't believe you have this."

"Wait, rewind. You danced in high school?" To Hope, high school was a big mystery; she wasn't sure what people did exactly in high school, but she wouldn't have minded four years of dancing. She chuckled, returning to the couch with a fresh bag of gummy worms and a dare ready for Leah.

"Ok, then prove it."

"Fine," Leah accepted, pulling her hair up with an elastic and taking her spot center living room. "Restart the song, and it's on."

/

Elijah could tell the patio doors were open from the slants of light that fell across the water of the pool. His hands were full anyway with dry-cleaning, so he was glad to avoid the front door altogether. Setting the bags over the kitchen chair, he assumed it was Hope who had her iPod blaring in the kitchen. Noticing the half-open bag of tortilla chips and salsa stains on the counter, he smiled to himself, hoping she was at least enjoying herself. He often worried that Hope had a lonely life; while she loved her family, it was not good for someone so young and impressionable as her to spend so much time with those so jaded with life. He had argued with Klaus, surprisingly on the side of Hayley, when the issue of Hope and college had arisen. High school had been out of the question; at that time she had come into her witch powers and she was equally a danger to herself as to others at that time. And honestly, there were no better teachers than Klaus and Elijah, and even Rebekah had taught her French and Italian by age ten.

But let her go to college, Elijah had argued. And while Klaus could argue with Elijah, he could not win against Hayley.

That was nearly four years ago, back when he still lived in the plantation house. But now he mostly spent his time in the Quarter in order to manage the Faction from the Compound - at least that is what Hayley and him had agreed to tell Hope.

_This song is actually not as horrible as I first thought, _he noted solemnly to himself, opening the fridge to check if there was milk for coffee and tea tomorrow morning. Pausing a moment to listen, the Original closed the door in slow realization that there were two heartbeats coming from the den.

Coming through the hallway, he leaned against the doorway into the living room. There was Hope on the couch, her back to him with her videophone in her hands; before her was another girl. Neither noticed him lurking from the far side of the room.

That girl looks distantly familiar.

No, not a girl - a young woman. She was wearing one of Hope's flimsy night ensembles, the one Rebekah bought her despite his protestations. And she was dancing, spinning around the room, her hair almost golden red in the low light of the den. This must be the new friend that has kept Hope on campus so much in the last weeks. Klaus has been complaining about nothing else lately.

Not a girl, he reiterated to himself, but certainly acting like a child.

Let them be, Elijah chastised himself, turning back to the kitchen to retrieve his dry cleaning. It had been a long day.

An hour later, up in the room he still maintained at the house, he stepped out from the shower, pinching the bridge of his noise in mild irritation: that damn song was still in his head.

/

Leah wrapped the towel around her, stepping out from the en suite bathroom onto the cool wooden floor. Her hair still dripped wet down her back, but Hope's room was just down the hall from the guest room. Leah was always creeped out by showering at other people's homes, like she was invading their lives or something. It was weird to use their shampoo and towels and soap, but from the feel of these towels, they were brand new. She didn't actually know they sold grey towels, but it was the fucking softest towel she had ever wrapped around herself. Running a hand down the hem of it, she found the tag, and squinting at the writing on the label she headed down the hall back to Hope's room.

_Egyptian cotton_, _no shit,_ she thought gleefully, _it's one of those $30 towels, isn't it._ _Fucking boss._

Smack.

She collided with someone. It was a some-_one_, she knew, because it was wearing a suit as grey as her towel. The juxtaposition of overdressed and underdressed was poetic as hell. If she wasn't already holding the towel by the label, it would have fallen down her body - which would have only made this encounter slightly less awkward, because it was already pretty fucking awkward.

It's the uncle, isn't it? She finally dares to look up. She still clings to the towel's label.

"Uh…yeuhh…"

She's so fucking eloquent it hurts.

It's what always happens when she's taken off guard. Leah's fight or flight response has kicked in; she's become hyper conscience of everything all the sudden. For example, the way she's holding her towel is pushing her chest up. She can tell because her boobs kinda hurt the way she's squishing them.

But relaxing the death grip on her towel is not an option.

Hope's uncle is a creep, Leah thinks. He's smirking, she's sure of it. The worse part is he's looking at her as if she isn't just in a towel and dripping water on the hardwood floor and this was the most normal conversation in the world.

"Afternoon, you must be Hope's friend."

"Tch…tchI'm….hi, I'm…just….shower."

Fucking hell, this is bad.

"Clearly," Elijah grins, taking a huge, generous step to the side so she can pass. Who makes hallways so narrow? Fuckers.

Let's try this again.

"Sorry," she clears her throat and tries to look as put-together as you can in a towel. "I'm…I'm Leah. Hope invited me over last night and we stayed up late so I just stayed over. She's in her shower though."

"No need to explain, Leah," he waves her off. "Though, I will have to speak with Hope; she should have put you in the guest room. Next time."

Leah opens her mouth, and then closes it. Next time she would just wait and take a shower when she got back to campus. She'd choose communal showers over…whatever is happening right now…any day.

"Next time," was all she could muster. "I better…"

"Of course," Elijah smiled again, though he doesn't move from his spot.

_Motherfucker,_ Leah curses internally, sidling around this random man in a suit. She doesn't look back as she passes. It's too early for this shit.

_Definitely not a girl_, the man in the suit muses.

/

Hope threw the bags in the back seat before joining Leah in the car. Her keychain sparkled as she reeved the ignition. Those are definitely diamonds, Leah deadpanned to herself.

"So."

"I don't want to talk about it. Just drive."

"Sorry," Hope whined, pulling out of the driveway. "I had no idea Elijah was in. He's so rarely around. It wasn't that bad, right?"

"Hope, you are fucking kidding right?"

"Right." Hope focused on the road, avoiding Leah's stern gaze. She tried really hard not to laugh.

She failed.

It's a whole month before Leah visits again.


	4. Shelter

Hope and Leah had camped out in the den over fall break. They had planned to spend the four day weekend traveling (maybe Atlanta or Charleston) but Hayley wouldn't let Hope leave when she found out about the incident on campus, and Klaus just wouldn't let her leave. Full stop.

"Incident" was an exaggerated term. She had punched a boy on campus. That's it.

Parents overreact to the weirdest shit sometimes.

So the girls decided to just get their midterm essays out of the way now so that they could go out every night and stay out late once classes resumed.

Hope, who had apparently lived in Paris for some years (so fancy, Leah joked), had already finished her paper on the French Revolution. She was now snuggled into the couch, feet propped up on the end, her notebook computer warming her lap. She was scrolling through pictures of dogs.

"I can't believe they grounded you," Leah grumbled from her place on the floor, "We could have gone to like, Mexico."

Hope groaned.

"We've been over this, I'm not _grounded. _I'm on house arrest. It's different."

"You punched a guy in the face."

Hope repositioned herself so she was sitting up and staring right at Leah.

"Not just…any guy. It was one of those werewolf frat boys that I _know _has been following me. First, I saw him at the Grind, okay fine. But then he was right behind me when I was returning those books and then he was in Tudor England."

Leah just rolled her eyes. "Maybe because he's enrolled in Tudor England."

The disbelief on Hope's face made Leah throw up her arms in surrender.

"Fine, but you shouldn't have punched him."

Hope snapped her computer shut and stood up. She had her father's temperament.

"Focus a little less on my life and a little more on yours and maybe you'd be done with that essay, yeah?"

_Ouch, Jesus._ Leah got back to work with her highlighter.

Hope stomped from the room, making sure to tread all over Leah's articles.

Definitely from her father.

/

Leah had been focusing on nothing but this fucking essay for three hours and it's still not done. Hope was still upstairs; she was blasting her music, as if that would cover the sounds of her arguing with her mom. For a family of supernatural creatures, the Mikaelsons were fantastically normal – dysfunctional, just like every other family.

_Dysfunctional, just like 15__th__ century France_. At least that is what she was trying to argue. Giving up, she hid her face in her folded arms and decided to just nap it out right there on the kitchen table.

She only got two seconds of sleep.

"May I join you?"

Oh, no, that voice. It's him.

Leah raises her head slowly, her hair falling into her face.

"Yeah, uh, please." She moves the stack of books to the side as the man in the suit places his mug on what she is sure is a pure crystal coaster.

Everything in this house is high class, including Hope's uncle.

"You're terribly studious for such a lovely afternoon."

What do you say to an opening like that? The truth, I guess?

"Writing an essay. It's due tonight…and I started…today."

Leah looked up - something crashed in the room up above them. Hope had probably thrown a lamp. Elijah didn't look up, he looked at her.

"Ah, I see." Elijah took a sip from his tea without breaking eye contact. It was the same way he had looked at her when she was wearing only a towel; this time, she was wearing far more than just a towel, but his gaze was just as intense and intrusive.

"What is it about?"

"Women in 15th century France."

"Wonderful. I may be able to help."

/

Elijah Mikaelson knew many things. Great works of literature and the music of every continent; several languages and cuisine from around the world; the art of war and how to please a woman; he knew that Klaus was paranoid, Rebekah stubborn and that he dedicated himself to everyone but himself. He knew that Hayley was not the same person she was before she had Hope, before she turned into a hybrid, and of course,

Elijah knew the history that he had lived through, his own and that of others. What he did not know, and what he could not fathom, was why Hope's friend would voluntarily spend time in this house, around this family.

Or why she would start a paper the day it was due.

He was suspicious and intrigued and entangled all at once.

15th century France, he understood; Hope's friend, on the other hand…

"You spelled Agincourt wrong."

He was currently standing over Leah, reading her essay as she proofread. It was not a bad essay (it was not a great essay either), but the sheer mundanity of this exercise was uniquely amusing.

"Oh, crap." Leah typed away. She had long, thin fingers, like those of a pianist, Elijah noted, or the hands of a nurse. Her nail polish nearly matched her hair.

"Okay. That's it then. Done."

She closed her computer, turning around in her chair to face Elijah. The air between them was cool. The only sound was her computer powering down, the slight whirl of its fan. Hayley and Hope had even stopped fighting. Elijah could muse on what they had been arguing about, but he would rather help this random young woman before him.

Odd.

Leah's voice broke the silence. "How," she began slowly, "am I supposed to cite this, you, just telling me stories and things you know. I don't think MLA says anything about citing 1000-year old vampires."

"You can cite what I said as an interview, or a lecture. I actually do have a doctorate in History. Several, actually."

"You?"

A murmur of agreement as he places his cup in the sink. A flash of sunny brown hair and Hope and Hayley stand in the kitchen, two sisters in appearance.

"Can Leah stay for dinner?" Hope pleads with Elijah as Hayley maintains her grip on her daughter's arm. Clearly Hope had broken away from Hayley and Elijah finds that highly amusing.

He takes utmost pleasure in ignoring the _hell no_ Hayley is flashing him with her eyes.

"That sounds like a lovely idea… Leah?"

The scandalized look on Hayley's face has Leah packing her bags in a second. She shoves her computer in her messenger bag and slings it over her shoulder.

"Rain check perhaps? I really got to get back to campus. I actually might go into the department later and knock out some work study hours."

Hope rolls her eyes at how fucking lame that excuse is.

Elijah is all diplomacy though; "Perhaps another time."

_Noookay maybe_, Leah thinks to herself, grabbing her cardigan from the back of the chair.

Elijah drives a hard bargain.

"Hope, can you give me a ride back?"

She knows, that Hope knows, that she's running away. Leah's gonna get an earful on the car ride back.

Hope looks to her mom for permission.

"Okay, but come right back."

The two girls head out the front door. Leah rolls her eyes. If you're under house arrest, you can't leave the house, that's like the fucking point.

She's _totally _is grounded.


	5. Long Time Traveller

She must be dreaming because her mother was dead for over twenty years. Yet here she was preparing for the funeral: black shoes, black dress, black mascara, smeared from tears she didn't remember crying.

She didn't even wear mascara. She had stabbed herself in the eye once and never went back. But here she was, wiping her smudged eyes ungracefully with the sleeve of her dress, standing in a circle of blank faces around a sleek mahogany casket.

_That must be my mother_, not that she knew how she knew that.

At 16, the Sisters at Holy Cross had asked if she wanted to learn about her mother. They drove her to city hall to shift through records, but found nothing. It was fruitless from the start. They didn't have an exact year for her birth; she was only mildly concerned that they had just guessed her age as a baby. More importantly, they didn't have a surname. "St. Ann" was the name the Sisters gave Jane Does. There were several St. Ann children at Holy Cross House and none of them were sisters, at least by blood.

Her search for her parents was all the more frustrating because apparently there had been a letter and a token in her basket when she was left on the steps of the church. "Token" was what the Holy Cross kids called any item left over from their past life: lockets, blankets, tiny baby bangles, semi-magical object parents gave their supernatural children to ward off evil. Most of the kids at Holy Cross House were supernatural, Leah decided, though only in hindsight. Conflict was a way of life in these communities, and whether the parents had make the hard decision to give their daughter a chance for a better life, or because they were just dead, they ended up at Holy Cross House. Either way, it was sad as hell.

Unlike the other girls in the House, who kept their tokens in tiny wooden boxes under their pillows, Leah didn't have hers; The Mother Superior had confiscated it and locked it in a drawer in her office; she wasn't a fan of the witches for obvious reasons. Leah's token had been a necklace, a large letter L on an old brass chain. That's why they had named her Leah – that, and because it was a bible name. All the kids had bible names, again, for obvious reasons. She saw it once, when she was very young, but it was locked away again. The letter her mother had left for her was apparently burned. She only knew this because she overheard the Sisters arguing about her after the incident.

"Incident" was an exaggerated term. What had happened was that when she was eleven, she had picked the lock in the administrative office with a bobby pin, stolen the necklace, and worn it to school that day. When the Afternoon Activities Coordinator showed up in her van after school to pick up the younger kids, Miss Davina had basically snatched the necklace from Leah's neck. Leah, of course, fought for it back the whole ride home. There was a lot of shouting from both parties until Sister Maria grabbed her by the arm and locked her in her room until the next morning. Leah had her rec room privileges taken away for a month, she had to stay home from the DC trip, and the Mother Superior forced her to dye her hair. In hindsight, that was really weird and suspicious, but at the time Leah had been the coolest kid in sixth grade until the dye washed out; she got tons of compliments for the little blue ribbons they tied into her dark chestnut braids, but a dozen showers later, and she was strawberry blonde again.

In a way, she and Hope were very similar. They were worlds apart in every other way.

/

She must be dreaming because people she had just recently met were at this funeral.

There was her history professor, the barista from the Grind, frat boy werewolf guy (sans cap and flip flops, I shit you not). There was Hope's dad, in a tie; Hayley, arms folded like a teenager; Hope, in shoes that were mildly inappropriate for a funeral. And Elijah.

Elijah was looking at her.

He noticed her and turned. He was walking toward her, the most open expression on his face.

She stood rooted to the spot, a statue of foreign grief. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Leah."

She was definitely dreaming. There was movement near the casket.

It was Father Gonzalez from back at Holy Cross House. The priest opened the good book and began to drone.

"Dearly beloved…."

What a fucking cliché.

Elijah rustled next to her. She winced, as if he heard her commentary.

No. It wasn't Elijah.

"I'm always one for a good party, but this is far too grim for my taste." Her voice was melodious and airy, like a whisper across decades. Her hair, Leah couldn't help but stare, was a shade of red that verged on obnoxious.

Leah swung around to face her fellow mourner.

"Do I know you?"

"No," the woman purred. A beat, then they both returned their attention to Father G.

The woman rocked on her feet, antsy. She started up again.

"I'm thrilled to find another witch among all these…folks." She leaned in, as if telling a secret. "You know you don't have to hang with them."

She turned momentarily to the Mikaelsons, all looking at a casket she was sure was empty.

The woman broke out into a thin smile, opening her beaded clutch and pulling something long and slink from within.

"The witches didn't abandon you, you know. The last thing they would have wanted was for you to get mixed up with those creatures that ran the witches out of town."

Before Leah could ask the question she hadn't even completely formed, the woman opened her hand, palm up; the golden L caught the sun and the brass chain slipped through her long fingers like a coil of golden snakes.

An audible gasp; "How did you get this?"

"I have my ways," the woman smiled warmly. Leah made to take it, but like a cold breeze in summer the woman curled her fingers like the talons of a harpy and drew back her hand.

"Not yet," she shoved it back in her bag. "You aren't quite ready for it. As much as I wish, I can't give it to you. Not yet."

She placed a slim hand on Leah's cheek; it was the most natural gesture in the world.

The ceremony was concluding. The people were singing the liturgy.

_Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us._

The woman was drawing something from her bag, but Leah couldn't turn her head to see what it was. She heard someone nearby gasp, someone sobbed. Father G. went on:

_Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us._

"Don't trust these people. They will turn you into one of them. I'm sorry, but you must learn. It takes a village to raise a child and the witches won't see this ruined. Show me that you have learned this." She sounded desperate, and under that, sad.

"Show you when?"

"Next time." The woman's hand moved to Leah's shoulder.

"Next time," was all Leah could muster before the knife entered her middle. She knew she wasn't dreaming because it hurt like hell.

_Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. _

_/_

Leah bolted upright. The alarm of her phone was telling her to wake the fuck up. Kids were already playing Top 40 out on the quad.

It_ had_ been a dream.

_Halle - fucking - lujah._

Grabbing her phone, she nearly broke it in two flipping it open.

It was 10:04am.

She decided it was not in fact too early to start drinking.


	6. Treacherous

**AN: Hi all! I really enjoyed writing this chapter; hope you enjoy reading it!**

Leah didn't tell Hope about the dream. You can probably guess why. She didn't know what it meant, or even if it meant anything; and anyway, there was no purpose worrying a family as paranoid as the Mikaelsons. And - and this was honestly a big part of it - although it was clearly an "I'm sorry for your loss" kiss, the chaste kind you give kids and grieving widows, it was probably best to not tell Hope that she was dreaming about Elijah.

Well, she was dreaming about all of them.

But still.

On campus on Thursday she took a detour to the library. Finding a book on dream interpretation, she downed an iced coffee while flipping through it. For science, she told herself. Research. She ran a finger down the index page: "empty coffin" was an entry, but she wasn't sure the casket had actually been empty. The "funerals" page warned that she might be experiencing large changes in her life and boatloads of anxiety. _Yeah, well no shit, Sherlock, _she whispered as she turned the page. The entry under "knife" bought up some Freudian shit she wasn't gonna touch with a ten-foot pole.

Dreaming about her mother's funeral was fucked up enough, and the last thing she wanted was Hope to worry. So she kept her mouth shut and refocused her attention on more immediate issues, like what she would dress up as for Halloween…and her invitation to family dinner on Sunday.

Dinner at the Mikaelsons was unsurprisingly a black-tie affair, catered affair. Or it usually was; apparently Elijah had decided to cook this particular evening. Hope gave her uncle a 5-star review (Italian, and he lived in Italy for 140 years, so like actual Italian!) and Leah really didn't have a choice after taking a rain check on her last invitation.

Still, there was reason to worry, but Hope reassured her.

Kinda.

Sorta.

Not really.

Not at all.

Klaus and Hayley had cut down on the anti-witch rhetoric after Hope had broken several lamps (she gets that from Rebekah, Klaus noted one evening after Hope threw a vase at an 18th Century oil painting). "So things are better!" Hope would spout as the two walked to class.

Okay, define "better."

"Oh, come on, Leah!" They were actually right in the middle of a quiz and Hope was still on about dinner. "Come Sunday, I swear, everything will be fine. Plus my dad and Elijah have all these stories and stuff about New Orleans in the 1800s."

Sounds fucking fantastic.

But Hope refused to take no for an answer (she gets that from me, Hayley noted one morning when Hope convinced Elijah that _yes, I can wear this out of the house_.)

So here she was in heels and the nicest dress she owned at 2:30 in the afternoon in this fancy ass Mikaelson kitchen. She felt dumb as hell, but given the fact that the spoon she was using to stir her coffee was _actual _silver, the least she could do was class it up a bit.

Leah dumped the spoon in the sink, cursing when she realized she still needed it to stir in her sugar. The sugar, which was in a sugar bowl (porcelain, 17th century) on the top shelf. Even in her heels she couldn't reach it.

"Let me get that for you."

Ask and you shall receive.

"Elijah! Didn't notice you there. Oh, thanks."

She stuck the spoon in her mouth in order to use both hands to grasp the bowl from Elijah. Once it was safely on counter, she stuck the spoon in the sugar and didn't realize how fucking gross that was until the spoon was back in her coffee.

Elijah didn't seem to notice. He was bringing milk out of the fridge. Leah took a guess and brought down a mug for him.

"Coffee," she offered, reaching for the most fancy French press on this side of the Atlantic.

"Please, though no sugar." Elijah was ready with the milk carton.

He and Hope's friend had fallen into this pattern, this one-two step of running into each other around the house. This was their interaction, in spurts and starts and stops.

And Elijah was grateful for it. He didn't know how to act around Hope's friend, though he had acknowledged that calling her 'Hope's friend' was a distancing mechanism. To Hope, she was a friend. To Klaus and Hayley, she was a deactivated bomb, an eliminated threat. To him? What was Hope's friend to him?

She was a young woman, not a girl.

And she looked lovely in the best dress that she owned.

_Careful, Elijah, you are taking the first step on a road you've been down already._

Right Elijah?

Elijah?

"Elijah?"

He could barely recognize his name; Hope's friend had her hand on his arm.

No, her name was Leah.

Leah was touching him. He felt her slim fingers on his linen sleeve.

"Your Coffee? No sugar."

Elijah received his mug wordlessly. It was cool, grey stoneware, and the color instantly reminded him of the grey of his suit and the grey of her towel. Was that really over a month ago? She threw the spoon into the sink. She left the sugar bowl out. There was sugar all over the counter.

He didn't mind.

She smiled and left without a word.

He did mind.

He should have said something to her as she left, like, goodbye? Well, something._ Do you like Parmesan cheese? _Something else maybe.

What did Hope's friend mean to him?

What did Leah mean to him?

Elijah Mikaelson knew many small things about the world; this one large thing, he did not know.

/

Elijah Mikaelson _did_ know that this dinner idea was an utter mistake. Niklaus and Hayley were doing this on purpose; they enjoyed finding his last nerve and stomping on it. It was a game to them, foreplay, if he was honest with himself. They weren't even eating—they had drained a girl before dinner even though he told them to leave room for dessert. He liked to think there were three Mikaelson children: Hope—and Niklaus and Hayley.

Across from him, Leah was taking it all in stride. How she was doing that – another thing he didn't know.

Leah should have bet money against Hope's optimism - no, better than money - alcohol: If someone yells at me, one shot; if someone strangles me, two shots; if someone kills me, a top-shelf bottle of gin.

She had seen this coming ten million miles away.

This dinner was a fucking disaster.

First, Klaus thought it was appropriate to open with a lovely story about witch-hunts in antebellum Louisiana. Then, two bottles of expensive wine later, Hayley asked her if the O'Connells were still running the seminary school at St. Ann's. Random, but at least the conversation had moved away from massacre.

Two painful hours later, after listening to everything from their return in America to a series of amusing tales about some kids in Virginia, Klaus came back to his original story. Apparently he had forgotten the best part.

"And so, I simply told the governor that it was the witches responsible for the bodies, and as they say, the rest is history."

Elijah coughs pointedly. Hope stabs at her pasta violently. Leah fails at hiding her distaste terribly.

Klaus thinks it's funny as hell.

"My dear brother, why so quiet tonight? Come, what was the name of that witch you used to knock around with back then?"

Elijah responds with a smile, but it's clear to everyone he wants to murder Niklaus.

"Celeste."

"Ah, yes," Klaus growled cheerfully, "the one who tried to kill us all a hundred years later. I really should have seen that one coming…you always had terrible taste in women, brother—"

Things went from zero to _fuck no _in seconds.

Elijah attacked Klaus: "I swear, Niklaus—

Hayley attacked Klaus: "_What _are you saying about me, exactly?"

Hope attacked Klaus: "Dad, what the fuck?!"

Klaus, feeling very attacked, clearly, barked back. He slammed both his fists on the table, rattling the silverware.

"Oh, please, spare me the hollow sentiment, Elijah. You're about as fond of the witches as Hayley here, and no offense sweetheart, I only meant that when it comes to my brother he somehow always manages to let the pretty ones slip through his grasp: Tatia, Celeste, _Katerina_," he mocked. He laughed cruelly, clearly drunk. "I mean, it's pathetic if you think about it."

Silence.

More Silence.

Please someone fucking say something.

Actually, on second thought, stop talking everyone.

Minutes tick by. It's so quiet you can hear the clock way in the kitchen.

"Leah," Hope jumped in with an excuse to leave, "did I ever show you my Halloween costume?"

"Sit down," Klaus growled. He was still staring down Elijah, whose jaw twitched dangerously.

"Boys," Hayley sang, pushing out the chair and getting to her feet, "let's remember we have a guest."

The way she said 'guest' put its definition in question.

She was already drunk and she needed to get drunker. Vampire metabolism was a bitch sometimes. Passing behind Hope, she grabbed another bottle from the wine rack.

"Let's keep our skeletons in the closet, yeah?"

Better make it two bottles.

"Hope, dear, why don't you show us that thing you do." It was weird that her mother was now playing nice but then again, it was weirder that her mother looked more like her sister.

But it was weirdest that her mom wanted her to do magic, given the conversation topic of the past two hours.

"What thing, _mom_?" she all but hissed. Hayley ignored the tone.

"The party trick."

A child's trick, Hope thought miserably. If she wasn't so desperate to steer the conversation into safer waters, she would have strongly reminded her mother that she wasn't twelve anymore.

Nevertheless, the flames of the candles began to gently rise, hovering about an inch above their wicks. It was pretty as hell, but not shiny enough to make Leah forget of what she just endured.

"Ah, fantastic," Klaus broke in, taking a bottle from Hayley and wrenching out the cork as if an entire bottle of wine was one standard drink. Klaus was a proud father, and even when Hope broke priceless antiques or beat up boys on campus, he was fiercely proud. So proud, apparently, that it blinded him to the fact that Hope herself had witch blood. Rebekah had been forced to bind her magic when they were still in hiding; with her powers subdued, she was less of a target for those who would use her power. Klaus would never hide his daughter away in an attic; he swore that many, many years ago. Yet though her powers were bound, Hope could perform small….well, party tricks.

Klaus didn't see what the problem was. She loved to do it all the time when she was younger. Nearly burned the house down on several occasions.

His delight was short lived. He immediately got annoyed again when he remembered _the friend_ was still here.

"Can you do that, little witch?"

"No," Leah snapped.

She was 100 percent done with this family affair.

"Good," Klaus countered, ending the conversation definitively.

_100 percent fucking done._

Okay, time to flee. She folded her napkin and dropped in on her plate.

"I'm _really _sorry," Leah started in the tone of someone who was not sorry at all. "I have to get back to campus."

"Leah—"

"Sorry Elijah, Hope, thank you for dinner, but it's late."

"I'll drive you home-"

The look Hayley shot her daughter killed that thought.

"No, I can just-"

"Nonsense," Elijah rose, talking more to Hayley than to Leah. "I shall drive you back to campus."

Leah was just glad for the Get Out of Jail Card. Hope looked miserable and utterly embarrassed, but Leah didn't have any fucks left to give even her best friend, especially when said best friend swore up and down Dauphin Street that dinner with the Mikaelsons was a good idea.

That girl owed her all the drinks in the Quarter.

"Thanks, Elijah. I'll just get my bag."

She fled the room. Hope hid her face in her hands. Niklaus looked victorious. Hayley was giving him a suspicious stare.

Elijah could not find the words to even begin to apologize to Leah.

As he grabbed the keys off the hook by the front door, he was grateful he had the entire car ride to find them.


	7. Dust to Dust

They drove without a word for a quarter of a mile before the silence collapsed upon itself.

"You will have to forgive Niklaus," Elijah began cautiously, keeping his eyes locked on the road. Leah sat in the seat next to him, resting her head on her arm on the door. She hadn't said a word from the front door to the car. Silently, she crawled into the passenger seat. He was desperate to know the reason for her taciturnity. Perhaps, he hoped, she was simply exhausted. Family was exhausting. The blame for the evening fell heavy on his shoulders, so when she didn't respond, he didn't push her to.

The road was dark and abandoned; a green sign flashed in the headlights: 42 miles to go.

"I'm just tired," she finally offered, minutes later. "It's the wine, makes me sleepy. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Bad dreams?"

"Yeah," she leaned down to rub her abused feet. After prancing around in heels all day (heels she had out grown years ago, she finally had to admit) her feet were tender and raw. She didn't dare take off her shoes though, not in his fancy ass car.

"I got stabbed in my last one." A pause. " Last dream, I mean," she added when Elijah looked over at her concerned.

They drove until mile 40 in silence.

Leah then tried to lighten the heavy mood in the car the only way she knew how: inappropriate humor.

"Like, I keep getting stabbed in my dreams. It's the same dream, or close to it. I've checked out websites and stuff; I don't know what you know about dream interpretation, but all the books keep telling me, if you dream about knives stabbing you and such, it means you need to get laid."

Elijah coughed uncomfortably. Leah beamed brightly. Success.

She spared him by changing the subject.

"Hope said her grandmother was a very powerful witch."

Elijah didn't respond right away, musing on his words for a while. Hope's friend had already been forced to experience terrible tirades against her people. He wished to spare her further discomfort, but he wished to tell her the truth.

"She was. Unfortunately she chose to use her powers to destroy her family."

What, that's it? Leah was a bit disappointed at the lack of details, but she was sure he had his reasons for being vague. There was probably a world of mommy-issues hidden beneath the waves of his words anyway.

"She was a New Orleans witch?"

"By our intervention, yes."

Okay, whatever that meant.

"The New Orleans witches practice ancestral magic, right? So…her magic is my magic?"

"If you had magic, yes."

_Ouch, okay._ Let's assume he didn't mean that last comment to come out like that. He was tired, she was tired; everyone had had enough.

Leah turned back to her window. It had begun to rain.

"Forgive me, I did not mean—"

"It's fine," she mumbled, yawning. "Don't worry about it."

/

"Leah?"

Elijah gently shook her shoulder, trying to wake her. They were almost there. She stirred slowly, wiping drool on her shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Do you live on North or East Campus?" He was squinting through the rainy windshield at a sign up ahead.

"North," she slurred, still half asleep, "in Tilton, across from the library, uh, it's the building with the rotunda."

Elijah flicked the turn signal.

"When did I doze off?"

"Mile 36."

How endearingly precise. Elijah pulled the car up to the curb. The sign read "No stopping, anytime," not that Elijah cared. He killed the engine.

The rain had stopped. Campus was deserted.

"Do you want me to walk you in?"

Leah found the car's door handle and pushed it open.

"Thanks, but no thanks, I'd have to sign you in with the front desk anyway and I can't handle anymore awkward today."

"Right, very well."

She made to step out of the car. One foot was on the curb when she felt a hand grasp hers with a small tug.

"Hmm? Did I leave something?"

"Leah."

That wasn't a question. It was a statement. He just said her name.

An ambulance wailed in the background.

"Leah, would you… allow me the opportunity to make up for tonight? Next weekend, perhaps? Just you and me this time."

Leah laughed, a stupid smile on her face. Her brain was so tired it had shut down long ago; it was having trouble breaking all his words down into meaning.

"Are you, like," she was sputtering her words amid laughter, "asking me out?"

God, he was funny. She liked him when he was joking.

He was joking.

Right?

Right?

Elijah let go of her hand and her other foot finally met the curb.

She was out of the car. As the cold air hit her, she realized he wasn't joking.

He was looking at her like he did in her dreams: _I'm so sorry for your loss._

She definitely lost something; if this is really happening, she's lost her mind.

_So tired. Can't think._

She vomited her words.

"I'm so sorry, Elijah. I just need—"

What did she just need? She needed to go inside. She needed to take off these fucking shoes, put on her pajamas, drink some water, go to bed, she needed to wake up and go on living her life. She needed to distant herself from this family, from a supernatural world she didn't belong to and definitely didn't understand. She remembered the woman's warning: _Don't trust these people. They will turn you into one of them._

"I'm so sorry, Elijah. I just need—"

"Time?" he offered.

"Space," she demanded.

Elijah didn't know what he was doing. She was right. This was the wrong time, everything was wrong about today, about now. He was taking advantage of a bad situation. _Not very noble,_ he heard himself think.

"Certainly."

He smiled, but it was a mask.

"Good night, Leah."

"Bye, Elijah. Thanks for the ride."

He pulled away, settling back into his seat.

Leah closed the door and began walking up the path to her dorm. She stopped to dig into her bag for her swipe card and noticed Elijah had already driven away.

For some reason, that hurt more than her feet.


	8. Useless

**AN: Thank you for all the kind and encouraging reviews! I write my chapters backwards, that's why I am able to post often—I promise to keep them coming! I love this chapter; it's inspired by many of my friends. Enjoy! **

Hope hadn't seen Leah in three weeks and she knew why. There are only so many "I'm sorry" shots you can buy someone; people either forgive you, or vomit everywhere. So after holding Leah's hair back in the bathroom of Rousseau's after a long night of trying to get Leah to forgive her, Hope admitted defeat, tucked Leah in with a bottle of water and an aspirin, and went home.

Which was lonelier than usual now.

Only her mother was home. Klaus was in Europe checking on some potential properties; apparently one château in France is not enough for some people. Elijah had returned to his resident at the Compound. Halloween was a big night in the Quarter, and the Faction was busy ensuring the evening would proceed "without incident," as her uncle liked to say.

Leah was using every excuse in the book to avoid hanging out with Hope, or even going within a mile of that house.

I gotta go to work.

I'm helping with homecoming.

I have a meeting with the career center.

My advisor needs to see me about an issue with my credits.

Your dad is a psycho and your mom hates me and your uncle asked me out.

Okay, not that last one, but the truth will set you free, right?

Ha, yeah right. Not in a million years. Her lips were sealed.

Which sucked, because that was the only excuse that could have released her from her promise to Hope about Halloween. They had made plans to attend the party in the Quarter weeks ago, and now Hope was leading her down Royal Street like a dog dragging its owner on a leash.

Which was impressive given the 4-inch heels Hope was sporting. That girl had somewhere gotten the idea to dress as Hipster Marie Antoinette, which was just regular Marie Antoinette with glasses. Judging by the amount of lace and silk ribbon decorating her like a wedding cake, the dress was vintage, if by vintage you meant actually from 1780s France.

Leah was less enthusiastic about the dressing up tradition. When Hope had called her up last night, she had to admit she had _nothing_. Not even an idea.

"What? Unacceptable."

"I don't have anything and I don't want to buy anything."

"You _have _to have a costume."

"Fine," Leah sighed flipping through her dorm room closet. "How about I just wake up in the morning and go as is, bed head and all, that's scary enough, right?

"Ha-ha, not funny. Listen, I'll come over early tomorrow and bring something. I'll even do your makeup and everything, just please don't bail."

"Fine, fine, yeah, yeah."

"Leah, you are not weaseling out of this."

"Yeah, yeah, fine, come around 7, just text when you're downstairs."

She could practically hear Hope's victory dance on the other end of the line.

"Yes, thank you, thank you! See you tomorrow!"

Click.

Leah threw her phone on the bed. She was going to regret this.

/

And she did.

She was being punished—cruel and unusual punishment. Hope had granted mercy on her and went with something traditional—black cat. Except, and Leah was 100% sure this was intentional, Hope had gotten what must have been a children's small. What Hope swore was an adult size clung to her body like a wet suit, and topped with one pair of Hope's many inappropriately-tall strappy heels (and the fish net stockings Hope swore again were the only ones she could find so late in black) traditional black cat easily became…drumroll please…slutty black cat.

Ah, yes. A Halloween classic.

Could Hope compel people? Because _someone_ must have compelled her to go out in public like this.

Currently, Leah was doing math in her head as they traipsed through the partygoers.

How many jello-shots before I don't hate myself right now.

Seven…and a half?

Typically, Hope was going on and on about Hope stuff.

"So I'm never going back there because that's the last time they double charge me for guacamole. Oh, and you will never believe who asked me out."

"Who?" Leah played along, avoiding someone dressed as a chicken passed out in the street.

"Frat boy werewolf guy."

Unbelievable. This guy.

"Does he have a death wish? You punched him in the face, take a hint."

"Clearly, I told him he wasn't my type."

"What, fratty?"

"No," Hope sang, incredulous like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Werewolf-y. He's a _Crescent_ wolf. We could be related."

Leah was not hearing this right.

"Is that how it works?"

"I don't know, but no way in hell am I risking it."

They turned a corner down an alley between two noisy bars.

"Ah, sad," Leah feigned. "You probably broke his heart."

Hope snorted. "I broke something, his nose was still in a splint. Trust me, it's better to just ignore them. Those werewolf boys on campus are just a bunch of persistent, horny, assholes."

A shadow crossed their path.

"Speaking of—"

"Ladies, _buenas tardes_. Enjoying the festivities?"

"José. José. José."

Hope knew this guy?

"I thought you Guerrera wolves were run outta town."

"Nah, girl. This city can't run without tourists, and _we_ keep the tourist running to this city. Cash is king. Elijah's a smart man, he knows that."

Leah hung back to give Hope some room. Oddly, enough, this was not the strangest conversation she had overheard this month.

"I assume you came from the Faction meeting?" Hope pulled her lens-less glasses from her face. She didn't need hipster glasses to make her look more sophisticated around José and his Guerrera groupies.

Some of his boys laughed at her obvious question.

"Apparently, if anyone starts shit tonight, the consequences, will be 'severe.'" He made air quotes and everything. "We all know that, we ain't stupid. We just don't know why it took old man Mikaelson two hours to tell us what we already know."

"Do shit, get hit, that's Faction law."

Damn girl.

That's it. Leah had a new life goal: be Hope Mikaelson. Hope was fucking boss right now, and Leah was seeing her friend in a whole new light. There she stood, dolled up as hipster Marie Antoinette, having a chitchat with a gang of werewolf townies in some dark alley like it was her job. In the last two months she had known Hope, she remembered coming to the conclusion that she didn't have any other friends. Partly it was because she hadn't seen Hope with anyone else when they were together on campus, partly because, well, her parents.

Well, you know what they say about assuming.

One of José's brothers slaps him across the chest with the back of his hand. "Yo, who's the red-head?

"Back off, Pablo," Hope warns, stepping forward.

"Si, who's the _bruja_?"

How on earth did everyone know she was a witch? Ugh, save it, not now.

Hope stepped further between Leah and Pablo, arms crossed and looking deadly, despite the ridiculous amount of curls on her head.

"She's with me, she's my friend. So don't get handsy, remember two summers ago? I will break your hand again…and anyway, don't you have a girlfriend?"

Pablo spit.

"_Antonia _can't be in the quarter. Quarter witches are banned during all major festivals, or did you forget. That's some shit. Witches can't even celebrate their own damn witch holidays. So now, instead of laughing, and drinking, and having a good time like you princess witches, she and her people are hiding out in the bayou on fucking Halloween."

A murmur of agreement and discontent rose in the ranks.

Hope rolled her eyes. "You all signed the treaty, they know the rules."

Somewhere above them, another voice echoed.

"Rules gonna change, kiddos."

A body materialized besides Hope; another behind Leah. A third and a fourth and fifth fell from the sky.

_Vampiros,_ José breathed.

Eight, nine, ten from the roofs of the alley's buildings.

Nightwalkers, but not Marcel's crew. Trouble.

Eleven. Twelve - twelve vampires definitely in violation of the treaty.

Hope grabbed Leah by the wrist and pulled her to her side.

What a horrible day to dress as a slutty black cat.

"Francisco," José hissed. "You can't be here."

The vampire threw up his hands.

"I know, I know. We're just here for the girl and we're out."

The Guerreras growled.

"Yo man, that's not funny. You can't joke like that here. I know you know that's Klaus Mikaelson's kid. Why don't you go find him and joke to him and see if he thinks it's funny, huh?"

The vampires broke out in harsh laughter. Hope's nails were digging into my wrist.

The vampire Francisco lowered the hood of his coat. He nodded in my direction.

No, wait, now he was pointing

_at me._

"Not you princess, we're here for her."

At me again.

What the fuck?

Leah was forced against the back wall; she didn't know if it was Hope or a vampire who pushed her. She tripped backwards over her shoes and barely caught herself, scraping her palms on the brick. Her hands stung as she steadied herself on the corner of a giant army-green dumpster. From her view in the corner, she saw the fight unfold. José has pulled a stake from somewhere, but Francisco had his wrists pinned above him. Pablo was fighting two vampires at once. Another wolf in a Saints jersey had his teeth—nope, nope those were fangs - in someone's throat. Hope was blocking most of her view; she stood, palms up, chanting a string of something in what sounded like French. No,- it was French - she was doing magic.

Two more vampires fell to their knees, clutching their heads as blood flowed from their nostrils.

Hope rounded on Leah, who couldn't believe her friend right now.

"I thought you couldn't do magic."

"Now is _not _the time, Leah - call Elijah."

"No."

"Call Elijah. I don't have my phone, call him."

"I'm not calling Elijah."

"What?"

It _was_ a little hard to hear over all the screaming, but this was not why Hope was now yelling at her friend. She was yelling at her friend, because her friend was being utterly fucking stupid.

"Look, I have your home number," Leah pulled her phone from her bra and waved it in Hope's face as if she could hypnotize her to forget her request. "I'll call your mom."

"Call. Elijah. Now."

Fuck it.

She hit the speed dial. Weeks ago Hope had forced her to put her uncle's number in. She only guessed that Hope had passed along her digits to Elijah. And yes, they had somehow turned a corner and walked into trouble. Still, the last person she wanted to call was Elijah. She knew she was being utterly fucking stupid – a pack of vamps wanted her for God knows what and she was refusing to call the one man who could probably kill them in seconds with not a hair out of place.

But she was also dressed like a slutty black cat and if she could just avoid having him see her in this ridiculous get-up at all costs, including death (dying seemed like a good option right now), well, that would just be fucking amazing.

Ugh, she needed to stop letting Hope convince her to do things.

Click, the line connected.

"Leah?"

Ugh, he did have her number.

"Elijah? We're in trouble…can you, uh, can come and, uh…"

And what exactly? Fuck if I know.

"Leah, I can't hear you—"

If people would just "Stop screaming!" she yelled, thank you.

"Leah? Leah?"

Leah glanced down at the display. God damnit, her shitty phone barely had a single bar. She crawled out of her corner to get a better signal.

Three bars, sweet.

"Elijah, we're between—"

Her phone went flying out of her hand as she was pushed up against the wall again by a vampire with horrible smokers' teeth. She knew it was a vampire, because he was fangs out and ready to tear into her throat.

In front of her, but behind yellow-teeth, Pablo pulled his stake from another vamp. Noticing the distressed kitty cat, he lunged to bring his stake down into her assailant's back.

Which would have been great, except that Pablo the fucking asshat totally missed.

The stake went into the flesh right below her right collarbone like a warm knife through butter.

She probably screamed but she couldn't hear herself because it hurt so bad. So fucking bad. Blood was already pouring down her chest. Pablo had the vampire in a headlock, but when the vamp smelled the blood buffet she was serving up on her breasts, he wrenched himself from the werewolf's hold and lunged.

Leah was expecting to faint, or die, or shit her pants. She was not expecting the vampire's body to go left and his head to go right.

She definitely wasn't expecting Hayley Marshall to be standing before her and giving her the disappointed mom face right now.


	9. Center of Attention

The constant beeping of the monitor finally woke her up. Her eyes fluttered open; she was in a blue room, florescent lights, little white flowers up and down the wallpaper.

Tacky as hell, but at least she was alive.

She could hear street noise, honks and screeching wheels. The single window was cracked just a sliver.

Leah blinked, adjusting to the light. Immediately she winced. Her shoulder was stiff and ached with a throbbing that spiked anytime she breathed. It was wrapped tight in white gauze tape and her right arm was in a sling flush against her chest. A silent prayer -someone had the decency to change her out of that dumb cat costume.

She tried to pull herself up.

Sweet Jesus, _owww_ that hurt.

Who was here, she wondered.

_Hwkl lng benhera?_

Damn, they must have drugged her up bad because that was not English.

"Want to try that again?"

Hope was here. Dear god, please let her not still be wearing that dumb costume.

She tried to turn her head to check. _Oww, oww, owww. _

_Okay, no sudden movements._

"I _said,_ how long have I been here?"

"Just overnight. You passed out when they pulled the stake from your shoulder."

What? When was that?

"What? When was that?"

_Ow._

Hope huffed in frustration as if this was the thousandth-and-first time she had told this story today.

"After mom showed up. Those Nightwalkers tried to flee but she and the wolves got them. Like, got them bad. You kinda lose your basic rights to keep on living when you violate the treaty that egregiously, especially on Halloween. That's like Elijah's one rule, don't fuck up on Halloween…or April 15th."

"Tax day?"

"My _birthday, _dumb butt."

Oh. Oh yeah. How could she forget? After all, somewhere, deep down in her Google calendar, she knew that.

"Did Elijah show up?"

Hope wondered if Leah had brain damage.

"Well, you _eventually_ called him so he _eventually _showed up." She was obviously mad about the phone incident. Again, incident was an exaggerated term; a moment of weakness perhaps? There was no way to explain her refusal to call for help when they needed help without sounding absolutely crazy. And with the psych ward just floors above them, she wasn't going to take any chances- time for some classic conversational redirection.

"Okay, okay, okay, forget that. Why am I here? Wait, is this the university hospital? You brought me here?"

"Elijah was just gonna feed you his blood but you freaked and refused- you don't remember this? You demanded, no, you like yelled at Elijah, screamed at him, telling him to take you to, and I quote, 'A god damn fucking hospital.'"

You have to admit, that sounded like her.

"And then I blacked out?"

"And then you blacked out."

The sass was strong in this one, talk about poor bedside manner.

"Yeah, well, you would have blacked out too if someone _yanked a giant piece of wood _from your chest."

"_I _wouldn't have gotten staked because _I _would have called Elijah when my friend told me."

There we are folks; Hope was being an unsympathetic bitch.

Leah couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was the one with the mangled shoulder and yet here was Hope acting all sore.

Silence, and then the sound of a chair scraping the tile floor. Hope now stood over the hospital bed. She pulled something from her jeans' pocket and threw it on the bed.

"Your wallet. We needed your ID. PS, your health insurance sucks."

Oh, my god, that's right. She was in the hospital. That cost money.

Bills, bills, bills.

She didn't need to be thinking about that now. How was she ever going to pay off this room.

_Stripping?_

Wait. Something was wrong.

They gave a student on shitty health insurance a single room? No way in hell (no way in America).

She was afraid to ask.

"How'd I get this room - a single room - with a window?"

"Elijah."

Ah, right. Of course. Please, tell me more.

"He compelled the entire third floor. Again, that wouldn't be necessary if you'd let him heal you."

"Hope, listen, real talk." She had to try to get this through her head: "I know you're part vampire, but I, me, Leah, _I_ am not a fan of having someone else's blood forced down my throat."

Hope made a disgusted face. "You're such an idiot."

"Same."

Leah might have fallen back asleep in the long silence that followed. She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she came to again. Her mouth was dry and her shoulder, surprise, still hurt.

"Where's Elijah now?"

Hope was leaning against the wall reading a _Town and Country._ She slapped it closed and tossed it on the nightstand.

"Elijah's somewhere near. He dropped by but you were out again. He's gonna bring you back with us when they release you."

Another minute passed; _beep… beep… beep… beep._

"You know I have a dorm room," she stared at the ceiling squares. "A room that I pay for. My own room. I'm not homeless."

Another minute passed; _beep… beep… beep… beep._

"Dad ordered it."

"That doesn't change anything. I'm not going home with you."

Hope's sneakers squeaked as she approached Leah's bed.

"You don't understand. He's ordered you under house arrest until further notice."

Leah snorted, which made her shoulder hurt like a bitch.

"Let me get this straight," she winced, "I've been grounded by someone else's parents? This is a joke; you do realize parents can't ground kids after like, 17, 18. And I know you live in magical fairy vampire land, but it's, like, illegal to keep people places against their will."

They could probably hear her cynical laughter down the hall in ICU.

"This is fucking not a joke, Leah. He's furious about the attack; he's furious _at you_."

Either she was still drugged up or she had lost brain function while out because the words coming out of Hope's mouth were not making any sense.

"Wait, I get attacked and _I'm_ being punished?"

Now Hope was furious; if her friend wasn't in a sling she would have grabbed her shoulders and shaken the stupid out of her.

She spoke slowly as if to a small child. There were pointed hand gestures.

"I'm gonna try this again. Klaus Mikaelson…thinks you…Leah St. Ann…conspired with a band of_ banished_ vampires…to _kill_ me, his precious baby girl."

Leah couldn't believe Hope just said that with a straight face. Please someone knock her back out with painkillers, she couldn't take this shit anymore.

"What am I, on trial? Law and Order: Supernatural Victims Unit? How could I possibly have been involved? Plus, there is a whole pack of teenage werewolves who can testify that I was just as clueless and unaware as the rest of y'all. Call up Jesús and Paolo."

Hope smacked herself. Leah wasn't even trying to take this seriously.

"José and _Pablo_, you idiot, and that's not gonna help; dad thinks very little of the Guerrera wolves, so just roll with it, please? Pul-lease don't fight this," she begged. "I know it's fucked up but yet…think of it as one big extended sleepover."

"Ok, and if I want to leave?"

"You can't."

"So… _not _a like sleepover."

"Don't make me smother you."

"And put me out of my misery, please do."

They could go like this for hours if they wanted. Neither of them did.

"Please, Leah, I don't want to fight. I want to keep you alive," Hope confessed, sympathetic at last.

Silence; then another voice in the choir.

"I prefer you alive as well."

It was Elijah. He leaned against the doorframe with a set of papers in his hand, waving them at the girls.

"Some good news, at last. Release forms. I've compelled the head nurse. You are free to go."

Ah, another variant definition from the Mikaelson Dictionary of Fucked-up Terminologies.

The real definition of "good news" is when you are actually free to go. "Free" is the ability do what you want without threat of compulsion, dismemberment, or death.

"Fucked-up" was her life right now.

So no, Elijah, I am not free to go.

/

"She has to go."

Elijah looked up from his journal. He had just stopped by the manor, the first time since All Saint's Day. Leah had been under house arrest for three weeks now. She hadn't even been allowed to attend classes; Hope had made up some excuse to the professor for her about a sick aunt in Kansas. She took notes for Leah, and bought her books from the library and even (though this had been Elijah's idea) offered the Alumni Development department a generous donation not to fire their errant employee and to keep her job open for if (when) she returned.

Anything, to make sure Leah didn't fall behind.

"I need those credits, I _have_ to graduate. My scholarship only covers four years."

Leah was washing out the coffee press in the kitchen, but she was using only one arm, the good arm, her non-dominant arm. There was a lot of soap everywhere; it was really funny, but also really sad at the same time.

Hope was a broken record of apologies, repeating her words for the millionth time.

"I know, this sucks I know. But look, you can email in your essays and, and your exams can be take home, and everything will be okay."

Leah meant to turn off the faucet, but she was busy using her left hand to gesture wildly.

"Or," she shrugged, which was a horrible idea given her shoulder, "or, your uncle could just compel_ all_ my problems away. In fact, why doesn't he just compel me my diploma now? And while he's at it, compel away all my student loans, and compel me a Kia Optima and a townhouse in Brooklyn and 2.5 kids for good measure."

Hope's face said loud and clear that she didn't appreciate the attitude.

"Don't be ungrateful, it's not a good look on you. I'm gonna take a shower. You, drop the attitude and figure out what you want to order for dinner. And you're wasting water."

She slammed the faucet handle down before leaving.

That was yesterday. Now Hayley wanted to know why some girl was washing dishes and doing chores around the house, some girl who wasn't the maid. At least the maid had two good arms.

"She has to go, I want her out," she said again, repeating her words for the millionth time.

"Are we discussing Hope's friend or a stray dog?"

"Is there a difference?" She philosophized from the doorway.

Elijah was tired of this argument already. Clearly Hayley had waited the whole three weeks to talk face-to-face and just let it all out. Did she even know these were Niklaus' orders? He didn't agree with his brother, but he was trying to do right by him; his house, his rules.

He closed his journal and looked intently at Hayley. Really looked hard. Her eyes gleamed in that intense way they did when she wanted something. Her forehead furrowed in that adorable way it did when she was annoyed. Once, he would have pulled her close, a hand resting lightly on her upper arm, and kissed that forehead, a promise that everything would be okay. That's all he had been able to do: extend promises, keep promises, break promises. But when Hayley had transitioned, the gulf between them grew; larger and larger until it swallowed the fragile relationship they had slowly built.

The gravity of that tragedy still pulled them together. Two suns, the center of their own universes, spinning closer and closer and closer.

He had left the plantation house to avoid crashing into her.

But now he was back.

_You came back._

_I always come back._

So he might as well give her his attention.

"Until we learn the motivations behind the attack on Halloween, it's wisest to keep Leah close."

"We're not running an orphanage, Elijah."

He gave a noncommittal shrug, the one that really pissed her off.

"Is this your thing, Elijah? Some motherless girl bats an eyelash and you ride in, knight in shining armor, and in two seconds you swear you've found some…fairytale ending?"

"Is that your summary of us?"

Hayley pulled herself away from the doorframe, swaying deeper into study, simpering.

He was fishing, so she took the bait.

"Nine, ten months, all that time yet you never really knew who I was. That's the summary of us, Elijah. You didn't know me and you don't know her."

Elijah made an unthreatening gesture, leaning back in his chair.

"Are you implying something?"

"It's clear why you've moved back in."

"No need to exaggerate: I'm only here for the weekend."

"And this has nothing to do with the slowly healing human in our kitchen?"

"Hope was attacked. My family needs me."

She let out a low whistle, moving her weight to the other foot.

"Oh man, family above all, I know that line, no, no, that's good… but going after your niece's best friend, Elijah, not so good."

"Hayley, your opinion is not requested."

"My opinion?" Hayley growled, throwing her words like darts. "Elijah, that girl, is a threat. Are you going to sit there and tell me it's not the slightest suspicious that I found her in an alley full of banished vampires?"

"Yes, how did you find her so fast? I didn't realize the sire bond was still active."

Hayley looked embarrassed, if just for a second.

"Any mother knows when her child is in danger," was all she said. "And don't change the subject, I'm far from done here. Leah whatever her name is, Hope's 'friend,' I don't care who she is—she's a witch with an unknown allegiance and she's under my roof."

"Niklaus placed her under your roof."

"And until I can convince him to kick her out, you better remember that she's here for one reason, to be our prisoner - not your girlfriend."

Elijah let out an unnecessary breath.

Now who was fishing? He wouldn't take the bait.

He simply shook his head in answer, as if he hadn't the slightest what she meant.

Hayley Marshall was no fool.

"Stay away from Leah, Elijah. I know you think I'm just being, petty, or whatever, but I don't want to see you get hurt. You know it too; this might end poorly…for Leah. I don't want her hurt, because I don't want Hope to suffer. Not again, not anymore, but I can't and won't promise anything, to you or to anyone.

Klaus and I have a right to protect our daughter."

Elijah looked offended, "I wouldn't dream of undermining your parental authority."

Hayley hugged herself through her heather sweater. She could read him now so well; at least he wasn't lying about that last bit.

"Make sure you spend some time with Hope while you're here. She misses you."

She forgot to shut the door when she left.

**AN: Thank you again, sweet reviewers. Ana, thanks for pushing me to really think about how I write the characters and their relationships! **


	10. Riptide

Her shoulder had mended enough that she could use her right hand to text, but not enough that she could use it to slap herself in the face.

Which was exactly what she wanted to do at the moment; she was sure she was responsible for the missing pieces.

Leah was currently doing a puzzle, or she had been for the last two weeks. It was slow going for obvious, painful reasons. Since she couldn't go to class, or work, or do anything remotely fun with this sling on, Leah was forced to fill up her days with daytime TV, first edition Classics, and puzzles.

This one was of a naked chick. Klaus had thrown the box at her one evening when he caught her napping on the sofa. It woke her up like only a box to the face can do.

"Pulled this from the attic. Reminded me of you."

That was sweet, she thought for two seconds until she looked at the picture on the box.

_Toulouse-Lautrec, 1897, Crouching Woman with Red Hair._

Jesus, what was wrong with this family?

_Ars gratia artis._

It was all some sick joke, she told herself - a giant inside-joke that she was just on the outside of.

Nevertheless, she was bored out of her mind. So that very day, Leah commandeered the rear parlor table and set to work.

Two weeks later, she was so close to finishing. The dream was real and the light was bright at the end of the tunnel.

Except that six or seven of the pieces were missing. They could have been missing from the start, but more likely their disappearance had been her fault. For example, just now she knocked over a handful when her phone buzzed. Text message.

It was Hope.

(504): Thompson said he didn't get the form from DOSO.

(1-504): DOSO?

(504): Dean of Students Office. The form about extended leave.

Shit. She had mailed that out weeks ago. If her professors didn't sign it, her scholarship would be in jeopardy come spring term.

(1-504): Can y

_Ow._ _Pain, pain, that hurts._

The phone slipped through her long fingers and clanged against the floor.

She was overworking her arm and it was not cooperating. She bent over to pick up the phone (the back panel had come off again; she just left it under the table).

Oh, look! Two more puzzles pieces.

(1- 504): Sry, dropped cell. Can u bring another form home? I will send it back with u tmr.

(504): Fine. And I have your Brit Lit take home. Anything else?

(1- 504): Venti 6 pump extra ice hazelnut iced coffee

(504): You got it. See ya soon.

She needed the caffeine. She hadn't been sleeping well; the dreams persisted.

She threw the phone back on the table.

The only thing worse than school bureaucracy was school bureaucracy when you weren't actually at school.

As soon as Klaus had returned from France, he had made it quite clear that until he had answers, she was going nowhere.

They had put her in the guest bedroom. Pro: It had those grey towels she loved so much. Con: she was next to Klaus and Hayley's room. If they weren't arguing, they were fucking like rabbits. Pro: Great water pressure. Con: The loud sex - all the time. Pro: The bed was as big as her entire dorm room. Con: Starts with S and rhymes with hex.

There is not enough ear bleach in the world, let me tell you.

At last she had been forced to camp out in the rear parlor. No wonder Elijah moved out; it must suck to have vamp hearing in this house.

She hadn't seen Elijah in over a month. Not properly at least. He would stop by for an hour or two here and there. And while he never ran into her proper, never tried to talk to her or stay for a meal, they spoke in other ways.

Once, he had left two books for her on her nightstand. There was a slip of paper, stuck in one like a bookmark: _For your enjoyment and edification. _It had to be Elijah; the titles were Shakespeare's _Henry V_ and Cornwell's _Agincourt._

Another time, she had returned to her battle with the puzzle to find a corner section completed. It was a hard bit, the upper section that was one large expanse of rusty orange. She wasted four days of her life on it already. Now she returned to find it all filled in. It had to be Elijah, or she hoped it was, though it made her blush imagining him staring at the picture on the box.

And just last weekend, she had found an invitation shoved under her bedroom door. It was a bit weird being invited to a party that was happening in your own house, but she was more worried about surviving another night with a house full of drunken Mikaelsons. The invitation was in golden embossment on expensive looking cardstock: _Please gather at the Mikaelson Manor for the 8__th__ Annual Faction Christmas Party. _It had to be Elijah, because the postscript on the back read: _Save me a dance. _

Like she could dance with her bum arm. Or that she would want to dance at all.

Or with him

Just last weekend, she had hidden the invite under her pillow.

Now, it stuck out between pages 622 and 623 of _Agincourt._

_Aha!_

She found another piece when she dove back under the table to retrieve the back to her phone.

/

Hope found her up in her room in the late afternoon.

"I brought your coffee!"

She thrust the drink at her friend, digging into her bag at the same time.

"And here are those forms and, ugh wait, it's snagged on something, oh, here, ta, da! Brit Lit take-home final; you've got 48 hours."

Leah threw the papers onto her nightstand, laying back into the lush pillows and kicking up her heels. She slurped through the straw.

"Ah, gross what is this?"

"You don't like it?" Hope was giving her very best innocent-hurt-puppy face. "It was some new holiday flavor and I assumed you wouldn't mind since you're so adventurous and stuff."

"It tastes like pennies, is Christmas supposed to taste like pennies?" It was also really sugary, like someone realized how crap it tasted and was trying to drown out the holiday cheer.

"Well, Christmas nowadays probably does. It's been demoted to just a giant commercial holiday—it _should _taste like money." She tilted her head slowly. "It's not that bad, right?"

Well, no, I guess. And it was free, so.

"Just next time think twice before you use me as your taste tester."

Hope beamed, clapping her hands together.

"Great, okay, mom and dad are downstairs so I better go. Good luck on that final."

Hope breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her.

_Act first, you can ask for forgiveness later._

/

Hayley had a problem and was having trouble solving it.

She scrolled down to see the clues.

_42 across: __Dostoyevsky__'s Family Affair._

She had even turned off the Wi-Fi so she wouldn't cheat this time. It didn't help that Klaus kept glancing over and smirking.

After five more minutes, he had to step in.

"The Brothers Karamazov."

"Klaus! I said DON'T tell me."

She wacked him on the arm; his laughter filled the empty kitchen. Distant footsteps could be heard marching down the stairs.

"I'm sorry, I just…I can only watch you struggle for so long."

Hayley's brow furrowed in mock annoyance; she began to peck in the answer on her tablet.

Quiet evenings together like this are her favorite part of the day.

_They are,_ at least until loud, needy, slowly healing humans ruined them.

Leah came crashing into the kitchen. She was waving a half-empty Starbucks cup wildly in her hand.

Her _right_ hand.

Peculiar.

Klaus looked up from his file. Hayley looked up from her tablet.

The sling that Hope's friend had been sporting for weeks was gone and her shoulder, evidently going by the way she was flailing it around, was completely healed. And while that was certainly unexpected since just this morning she had broken a plate trying to use her right arm to remove it from the microwave, medical miracles were nothing be throw a tantrum over.

So what was her frikken problem?

"Did you do this?" She marched right up to Klaus, towering over him at the table. Girl's got nerve, Hayley thought. Okay, let's hear her out.

Leah slammed the coffee cup on the table, provoking Hayley to set down her tablet and face the issue head on.

"Can we help you?"

"Someone put vampire blood in my iced coffee."

Well this was gonna be good.

She leaned back in her chair, sharing an amused look with Klaus.

"I'm sorry, one more time."

"Someone…put vampire blood…in my iced coffee."

Well that explains the miracle recovery, but not the attitude.

Klaus' snickered to himself, finding this highly amusing.

"Quite incredible. You've been plodding around here for weeks like a crippled horse, I would think you would be thrilled to have the use of your arm back."

"I didn't want anyone to heal me, I thought that was clear."

"An odd request."

"I have my reasons."

Hayley was worried. Klaus had that paranoid look in his eye.

"Ah, yes, draw out your agony if only to make your act all the more convincing."

"What act?" Leah crossed her arms, which she could do now, she noted resentfully.

Klaus' eyes sparked dangerously as he held up his file. It was information Marcel had been collecting for him since that night. There were handwritten notes scribbled all over the front; her name was prominent, she could read it from here.

"I have a theory," Klaus began, clearly proud of this particular theory, "that you made a deal with one of your vagrant friends to stake you in order to exonerate your role in the unfortunate business on Halloween night."

Leah was convinced Klaus had a hundred more fucked up conspiracy theories where that one came from…which was apparently from the file he was pointing at her with.

"I don't appreciate being poisoned," was all she said.

"As if I would give you even a drop of my blood. I'd take a careful look at my position in this household if I were you, Leah… you overestimate your worth."

Leah frequently went through streaks of utter stupidity; she was currently in such an episode as she continued her harangue against the hybrid.

"One of you spiked my coffee. If I died right now, I would come back as a vampire. Who gave you the right to just do that to someone? You should _ask_ people before tricking them into drinking vampire blood, and, I don't know, maybe _not_ use your daughter as a drug mule?"

Klaus' face darkened; he slapped the file on the table.

Hayley placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Klaus stilled.

"Don't be ungrateful, Leah," Hayley warned in a motherly tone that really pissed Leah off.

Nevertheless, she backed down. It wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. The damage was done.

Well, the healing was done.

Whatever.

Hayley stood up, pushing her chair out. She picked up her tablet and tucked it under her arm. To everyone's surprise, including her own, she reached out and touched Leah lightly on the upper arm.

"Don't turn this into something that it isn't. Look I'm...I'm sorry I had to trick you like that, it's just…you were just so pathetic hobbling around the house. Call it a motherly moment of weakness, I don't care, just, turn the tantrum down a notch. It's all fine."

Not really, but okay.

Leah nodded, mostly because she couldn't find anything to say; Hope's mom was being oddly nice, but also a little scary at the same time. She was also dazed by the feeling of Hayley's hand on her – her touch was saying one thing, but her tone another.

She avoided her eyes and looked once more at Klaus, backing away from Hayley.

"I didn't do anything. Let me go."

"No."

"Klaus, maybe we should reconsid—"

"No."

Well, okay then.

Leah rolled her eyes, groaned and stomped out of the kitchen. Hope was rubbing off on her, Hayley noted proudly.

"When did we get another daughter? You don't think we're having enough trouble with one?" Hayley spun around to face Klaus, watching Leah disappear.

Klaus only chuckled, opening the file again.

Leah had daring, he had to admire that.

And with both arms working, maybe she would finally finish the fucking puzzle.

"Her arm would have been fine in a few more weeks. I know you have your sentimental streaks time to time, but no need to jump the gun, love. Children can be quite unpredictable."

He pulled out a stack of photos from the file.

"Nice work with the coffee trick though."

He went back to work. Hayley headed out. She needed to think on her own for a bit.

Hayley had a problem and was having trouble solving it.

It hadn't been her blood in Leah's iced coffee.

Hayley Marshall had just lied and she wasn't exactly sure why.

/

/ 

**I loved writing this chapter! Thanks for reading! PS If you will, follow me on Tumblr at mywelshrabbit.**

**Ana, I feel SO BAD because I have all the answers to your questions and I'm just smiling sadistically as I type this note; I'm gonna make this torture…it's going to be a while before all the pieces come together! There are hints in every chapter though! One of the reasons Hope has so few POVs is because I see her as the catalyst around which the other characters are orbiting (and crashing into each other); she's the eye of the hurricane. She is the "Freak in the Middle" who drives all the action, but in a way, all the characters are stuck in the middle of some personal and external issue in their life. You will get some more insight into her thoughts in later chapters though. Hope has a bit of a chameleon personality. Based on whom she is with, her actions and behaviors change; it's partly a survival instinct, partly a symptom of her just being young.**

**And you are on the right track with some other stuff, but can't say more—don't want to give anything away! **


	11. Good Night, Chicago

Although the party overall was more business than pleasure, it wasn't the worst thing ever; if you pushed her, she would have to admit she was enjoying herself. Not as much as if she were back on campus at Kappa Sig's end of the semester blowout, but she had to admit the food was better here and the floor significantly less sticky, which was nice.

The day before, an event planning company had transformed the house. In less than 12 hours, they cleared the larger and smaller sitting rooms and even installed a dance floor. She had been forced to abandon her camp in the rear parlor for upstairs; the sound of the hammering and drilling had threatened to drive her insane. Now, two buffet tables were set up, a drink station and pair of sound speakers as large as five year olds.

Leah hadn't realized just how huge the house was until it was filled with over a hundred people.

There was live music and folks were actually dancing. A dark haired chantress has just finished singing about how much she loved Paris in the springtime. Apparently her accompanist needed a break (or hated Paris), so the piano was abandoned momentarily, but the music did not stop. Almost immediately, the violinist nodded to the cellist and the string quartet struck up a French minuet.

Yes, this party had two sets of musicians; and a chocolate fountain, a fondue station, a sushi chef, and a tapas bar. Despite the exotic food selection, this catered affair had more of a stuffy law firm meet-and-greet vibe going on; the dress code was less ugly-sweater, more three-piece suit.

Which led her to the best part, the bit that really got Leah musing over her cheese plate.

The party was themed "Around the World."

The _Christmas _party was themed "Around the World."

Like it was classily done, but still, the issue was way more fundamental.

This was another one to add to the ridicu-list, Leah thought, now stuffing her plate with California rolls. A Christmas party didn't need a theme - the theme _was _Christmas. At Holy Cross House, the theme had for obvious reasons always been Happy Birthday Jesus. If everyone currently had party hats and a giant birthday cake came wheeling in, that would have made more sense.

Why did anything surprise her anymore? This family was operating on a completely different level.

_Yes, score_. She had found the empanadas.

Stuffing her face, she was distracted by Klaus' accent somewhere above the music.

"Antonia, beautiful singing, love. How's your mother?"

"She still hates you."

"Fantastic. And what is this I hear about your engagement? Congratulations are in order it seems, _Mrs. Guerrera._"

"Um, thank you."

"He is a very lucky man… with a bright future ahead of him, and it appears you both will be sporting new rings tonight."

The joke was lost on her.

"I…I should get back to work."

"Of course. Oh, and sweetheart, if I may…a request? Perhaps something about my old City in a Garden, I do miss it. That's a good girl."

Leah strained to find the source of the voice, but he had disappeared into the crowd.

_Crap._

She tried to wipe off the chimichurri sauce now dotting the front of her dress. It was, after all, the best dress that she owned. Luckily the material was dark so it was impossible to tell how unclassy she was currently being camped out by the food.

Hiding by the food, more like.

She wasn't sure what was more intimidating in a house full of dancing supernaturals: the supernaturals, or the dancing.

Waiters in black dresses and pearl earrings circled the rooms, flutes of champagne on silver trays. Hope had abandoned her early on; she and her father were making the rounds, shaking hands and exchanging platitudes like politicians on the campaign trail. Actually, Hope had been avoiding her the whole weekend. She hadn't even commented on her miraculous recovery.

Finals, perhaps.

Leah followed Hope and her dad around the room with her eyes wondering who all the important people were (honestly, more like _what_ they were).

For just a second, she wondered if someone in this room had known her mom.

She moved slightly around the kitchen to get a better view of the room across the hall.

No sign of Elijah. Or Hayley.

Hope and her dad had split. She was currently weaving in and out of the crowd, snaking away from frat boy werewolf guy no doubt; the idiot was apparently the son of a Faction member and his dad hadn't had the good sense to leave him home with a baby sitter.

Klaus was shaking hands with someone familiar. He had a small wooden box in his hand; whatever he pulled out from it was small, dark and round. A marble? A ring? Drugs? The kid who snatched it up was grinning like Klaus had handed him a million dollars. Who makes shady back-alley business deals at a Christmas party?

She had almost forgotten. This was a _Faction _Christmas party.

Well then, so where was Elijah?

The quartet softly ended their Viennese waltz. Couples who were far more cultured than her left the dance floor. The set must be over because the strings cleared off and were replaced by a slow jazz version of "New York, New York."

Start spreading the news: she had decided this wasn't the worse way to spend a Sunday night.

She went for another empanada.

/

The patio was much cooler and quieter than inside, more conducive to conversation. Elijah had just finished talking to the mayor; he had wished to gently remind Elijah that even though the Guerrera Family sustained the city's GDP, they still needed to pay taxes.

"I'm sure they have not forgotten entirely," was all Elijah could promise.

When he turned back, he found Hayley waiting by the French doors.

"A word, Elijah."

"Straight to business then."

"What did you do?"

Elijah feigned ignorance. He nodded to a member of the Faction who had come outside for a smoke before returning his attention.

"I haven't a clue what you mean."

He walked further out onto the open patio, tracing the pool in an attempt to nudge their conversation away from the party. Hayley stayed on his heels, placing her empty glass on a circulating platter.

"Care to explain Leah's miraculous recovery?"

"Not entirely, no."

"So, are you saying you _did _have my daughter sneak your blood to Leah?" She threw up her hands, bangles jangling. "I don't even want to know the details, Elijah, I just want to know why I had to lie to both Leah _and _Klaus Friday afternoon. That girl came storming into the kitchen waving her arm around as evidence, that clearly, someone had slipped her vamp blood. I get why she was mad, we both promised her that night she could heal up old school. I don't appreciate looking like a liar, Elijah."

Elijah squinted, thinking hard. Despite Hayley's accusation, this was all new to him. He might have glimpsed Leah earlier, but at the moment he couldn't recall if she still wore the sling.

Hayley, as usual, was not done yet.

"Save the sad, crippled child, I get that Elijah. That's right up your alley; what I don't get is why you would do it after she_ screamed_ at you not to?"

He could not have forgotten if he wished. Leah had been covered in blood, dressed as some sort of prostitute cat, screaming at him to take her to, quote, "a god damn fucking hospital."

He cleared his throat.

"This is all new to me."

"Seriously?"

"Hayley, I am telling you, it was not I who did this. I did not contact Hope and I did not give Leah my blood. If you recall, I was in town until just this morning."

Hayley scrunched up her face. Oh, that complicated things.

_7 Down, 5 Letters: the plot thickens. _

"Are you telling me, Hope has had contact with some other vampire?"

"It appears so, yes."

"How is that possible?"

"You do let her out of the house, yes? School perhaps, or—"

"Or she's had contact with those banished vamps from Halloween."

"I'm sure the idea is in Klaus' file of theories."

They were silent for a moment, muddling over implications they'd both rather avoid right now.

After all, they were at a party.

"If you excuse me -"

He vanished without further explanation. She could guess where he was going, who he was going to find.

So, Hope had decided to do a solid for her friend. She had orchestrated this little plan all on her own.

Or had she?

Huh, Hayley blanked. What a twist.

_7 Down, 5 Letters._

T-W-I-S-T.

/

"I'm partial to the baklava myself."

He could use some sweetness right now.

Leah spun around from her post by the food table at the sound of his voice. He had not meant to frighten her.

He couldn't help but look her over.

Hayley wasn't wrong. The injury to her shoulder was non-existent.

For just a second, he wondered if the blood was out of her system.

The piano began to pluck out the opening to "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."

He barely noticed; he was awfully distracted by Leah - and disappointed.

She was wearing the best dress she that owned.

It just wasn't his dress - the one he had bought for her.

He didn't know what to do: bring it up or not bring it up.

"You look lovely," was all he said.

She knew what he meant.

"I'm sorry, Elijah, it just didn't feel right to wear it."

"Did it displease you?"

She made a face at his odd wording. He could tell that she could tell that he was disappointed. That's not what he had wanted.

Now she was backtracking.

"No, no that's not what I'm saying. I love it! Grey's my favorite color, which hardly anyone knows…so it's a bit weird that you know that, but anyway, I thought, I…just—"

She was doing the thing. He felt tremendously guilty. She'd done nothing wrong.

"I just think…don't you think that people would talk?"

Elijah shifted, annoyed.

"Forgive me, I am not following. What would they have to talk about? Why do you care what other people think?"

He was letting his emotions get the better of him. His earlier discussion with Hayley had thrown him off his orbit. Two suns, the center of their own universes, spinning closer and closer and closer.

It was impossible to deny: Hayley and Leah had their similarities.

"I don't care what other people think, I care what _I_ think_. I think_ that you shouldn't be buying me presents."

"I simply meant to show you my appreciation—"

"Oh come on, Elijah. I know you're like a thousand years old, that doesn't mean you have to be so old fashioned. I know you…"

She couldn't find the words so she used his.

"…I know you _appreciate_ me, but we are not together, so you can't buy me things. I don't want to feel like I owe you anything. If I wore that dress, I would owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, Leah."

It was the most honest thing he'd said all night. He realized it himself, and so added:

"Except for dinner, if you still wish."

He added in a smile, for luck.

A thousand years old but boys were still boys.

Leah smiled back. Thank god. He was afraid he had been too forward, pushed too hard.

"That's right," she agreed. "You still have that rain check."

Antonia had returned to her post by the piano; after leaving her heart in San Francisco she was now in Chicago.

A new song, a new opportunity to fix this.

"Perhaps I can trade my rain check for a dance."

She laughed, despite herself he could tell.

"No exchanges without a receipt."

Fair. Still, he offered his hand.

"I don't know what I'm doing."

"Put your hand on my shoulder, here."

"And this hand?"

"Here."

He entangled his hand with her slim fingers. The light in her eyes was like a city at night.

It's all fine. It's all good.

They spun onto the dance floor.

**AN: Another favorite chapter of mine! Can you count how many cities/countries are represented at this shindig? :D Thanks for those who have reviewed here or on tumblr—I could chat about this story for days so just hit me up! **


	12. Youth

**AN: Hey party people! Heads up: things are starting to get kind of dramatic! No pain no gain! ;)**

Hayley was watching Elijah and Leah from behind buffet table # 2. She had half a drink in her hand and a sour taste in her mouth.

It was like watching halfway through a movie then realizing you'd already seen it. You're kind of annoyed at yourself for not realizing sooner, but keep watching anyway because you might as well see this thing through to the end.

Looking out at the dance floor, she knew she'd seen this movie before. She just didn't remember what it was called.

She felt dumber and dumber each day, and it was starting to piss her off.

She finished the rest of her drink in one go.

"Care to dance?"

Klaus was trying to be a gentleman - about time.

"Done with your business?"

"The Guerrera story checked out."

"So what took you so long?"

Their hands meet. The music swelled.

"I'd like to consider myself a mentor - to the youth. In pursuit of fostering the future, I was just showing young Pablo our gratitude for the part he and his brother played on Halloween. In addition, I thought I could inspire some sense of leadership in the lad, by granting him a token of my faith in his abilities."

"You didn't…"

He spun her out. Their hands meet again.

They locked eyes. Klaus was itching to tell her what she didn't want to hear.

"That moonlight ring, Hayley_,_ will change his life. When I had Genevieve make the stones, it was a guarantee, for the future. The wolves would do anything, follow anyone, for a chance to possess just one. Better they follow me, do what I want them to do - Pablo will one day lead his family; I need him to be with me. I am giving him a gift, that is all - it is Christmas after all."

Hayley saw straight through his fancily wrapped words.

"You bought him off."

"Come, love, no harm in more allies."

The music died away but the wild look in Klaus' eyes remained.

Their dance was over.

She touched his face. Looked him in the eyes. Made him listen, like he had done, back when he had stared deep into her wild eyes, back when she was lost and couldn't see for herself.

"Klaus, please. Stop these under-table deals. There's no need for allies anymore. The city is not at war. Hope is fine. She's okay. You promised me that you'd set all of this aside. The Faction maintains the peace now, leave the politics to Elijah and just be_ here_."

She was repeating his words back to him, words from decades ago. The fire inside Klaus burned low at the sound of her voice. He took both her hands in his own, a tender gesture.

"If Halloween showed us anything, it's that my brother's thinks diplomacy can keep our family safe."

"And fear," she reminded him gently. "Fear is power, you taught me that. There's no one in the Quarter who doesn't still feel the scars we left on this city twenty years ago. Let that be enough, please."

Klaus broke out his cheeky smile.

_Not fair, _Hayley thought.

He kissed her hands, never letting go.

"_You_ are enough, Hayley."

That was good enough for now.

/

"You don't appear to be enjoying yourself."

Oh no. She was not drunk enough for more Klaus Mikaelson theories right now. It was 1am and the party had died down; only a few pockets of stragglers remained. Antonia was still going on sadly about the rains down in Africa. Elijah had left to do more Faction crap, which was good, because it left her time to think through the tangled knot that was her emotions at present. Had she been too stanch? Was _she _being too old-fashioned? What she needed was to sleep it off. Plus her feet hurt and they were out of cocktail shrimp.

"I'd enjoy it more if I could leave," she had to admit.

"This house or this party?"

"Both."

"I thought you realized why I am keeping you here."

"You think I'm part of a secret undercover assassin ring."

Klaus laughed; he had to admit he enjoyed her spirit. It was familiar, in a way.

Leah wondered if he was drunk.

"Well, yes that too. Foremost, however, I am looking out for your welfare."

"I thought you hated me."

"Now, where did you get that idea? Listen closely; I know how treacherous this world is."

He gestured to the remaining guest.

"These are not your people, Leah. This is not your family. But you're too far in now, no use turning tail, I guess. So, what to do with you. That's the mystery of Leah St. Ann, is it not? I can always teach you the ropes, find something nice for you after graduation, perhaps."

Classic. It was the "don't be ungrateful" speech in so many words; her sarcasm was saccharine.

"That is so thoughtful, Mr. Mikaelson. I will always appreciate some good career advice. Or maybe I'll take a gap year, travel the world after I graduate! I always wanted to see the Great Wall. Or maybe the Pyramids? Definitely the Hermitage. In fact, I'd rather be anyplace but here right now, but alas, I'm here. Because you said so."

"That you are and that I did." He hung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in tight.

Yeah, so he was drunk.

Well good, or else she'd probably be dead for that last outburst.

"Leah, look around you. A lesson in politics: do you know what it takes to bring all these people together in the same room: Wolves, witches, vampires - a history of violence as old as this city?"

"Enlighten me."

"Fear, Leah, that's the linchpin: fear of the Faction and fear of my big brother. I know you've probably only seen teddy bear Elijah, but my brother is as ruthless as they come. 20 years later and the witches still think twice before getting on his bad side. You see, fear is power, Leah. What do you fear?"

"That's an awfully personal question."

"You are only as strong as your fear allows you to be, sweetheart, I'm simply trying to learn more about you. You are, after all, sleeping under my roof, dining at my table, dating my brother—"

She had to protest at that.

"We-we're not dating."

"He asked me if I knew your favorite color."

"We're not dating."

Klaus let her go only to grab another bottle of champagne from a passing waiter.

"Call it as you will, Leah dear, but eight weeks and not once have you even tried to escape. You could have at least stepped foot outside the front door to test if anyone would have stopped you. Deny it if you wish, but you like it here," he taunted mercilessly. "It appears something, or someone, is keeping you here."

He pulled out the cork with a loud pop.

"And given that even Hayley got tired of seeing you limp around the place, I think it's safe to say her distaste for you has diminished considerably. Congratulations, love, you're basically family."

A waiter passed by, cleaning up. Klaus plucked the single remaining flute and handled it to Leah.

"Cheers, little witch."

/

The party was winding down. Elijah was just discussing payment with Antonia in the foyer when the pleasant tones of Tchaikovsky were shattered by a scream.

It was Hope.

"Elijah!"

Now it was Niklaus. Elijah pushed through the crowd to the kitchen, ready to face whatever was threatening his niece.

He crossed the hallway in a flash, grasping the kitchen doorframe to slow himself.

Immediately he spotted Hope.

She was near the French doors, pointing toward the ground. She was fine. As her gaze moved, he followed her line of sight. Niklaus was cradling someone in the small space between the island and the refrigerator. Some of the partygoers, who had yet to leave, driven more by curiosity than concern, were starting to circle.

They parted as he approached his brother.

Elijah was not prepared for what he saw.

Niklaus was holding Leah. She was coughing violently as if something was obstructing her breathing. Her body shuddered with every breath she struggled to take. Niklaus was being useless and he knew it; he didn't know how to react to something so ordinary, so normal, so un-supernatural. So he had called for his big brother; Elijah would make it better. Elijah would fix it.

"Niklaus…"

"Elijah, I don't know. We were just talking—she was fine—she just, stopped breathing and collapsed; she can't breathe…"

Elijah was already biting into his wrist. He was working on automatic, reasoning with pure cause and effect: Leah was sick; vampire blood would help. Isn't that how these things worked?

He ignored whatever she was trying to tell him with her eyes. He already knew, and he didn't care. Not this time—this time was different.

_She could die, _he admitted to himself.

_Act first, ask forgiveness second._

He shoved his wrist into her mouth and only then realized that this might be a poor idea. Not because she would hate him for it, but because the blood wasn't going down. Leah sputtered; his blood rained down her pale neck in tiny streams.

It hadn't worked. Leah was still shaking, her breath coming out ragged and shallow, her face as red as her hair.

One hand clawed at the neck of her dress, the other grabbed his hand and wouldn't let go.

He wasn't going to let go either.

Klaus couldn't tell who looked more terrified, Leah or his brother.

Elijah was supposed to make it better. He had failed and now what?

"Hayley!"

She was by his side in a flash, a knife in her hand.

"Whoa there, love, what are you going to do with that?"

"Move aside," she ordered him. He obeyed, moving Leah's dead weight to his brother's open arms. One second she shared a tense glance with Elijah, the next she took the knife and cut the front of Leah's dress down the center to the navel. Leah's bared chest gleamed with sweat, rapidly rising and falling to the beat of the kitchen clock above their heads. Without the constricting dress, her breathing stabilized.

But only slightly.

The knife clanked, discarded on the floor.

"We need to open up her airway, we have to get her breathing, take off her necklace, move back, give me some space!"

The crowd receded, if only a little.

"Tilt her head back, Elijah."

"Hayley..." his voice strained.

"I know what I'm doing."

Placing a hand behind her head, he gently tilted her chin up. Her hair was damp with sweat. The red of her cheeks was fading into blue.

Hayley moved her hands toward Leah's face. Using one hand to steady her head, she reached a finger down into Leah's throat.

With a sweeping motion, she pulled it out, growling in frustration.

"There's nothing there! She's not choking on anything!"

"Hayley—"

"I don't get it Elijah, I don't know!"

Wiping her face with the back of her hand, Hayley dared to look at Elijah. He just shook his head. His message to her was clear as day:

No.

_No._

"No." He held Leah's hand and would not let go.

She was purple now.

There was a commotion on the other side of the room.

"She's been hexed, it's magic!"

It was Antonia; Hope was dragging the young witch by the hand, basically throwing her toward the kitchen. They both pushed through the crowd, out of breath, and came to stand over Elijah.

But Elijah didn't take his eyes off Leah.

"Please, she's been hexed. I can help. Can I?"

Antonia didn't wait for an answer. She dropped down beside Elijah, pushing Hayley to the side. She placed both hands on either side of Leah's face.

"Fix this," Elijah growled low. "Fix her."

The timber of his voice made her doubt her abilities. What if she failed, would he rip out her heart on the spot? There were too many variables, and this was dark magic.

But one thing she was sure of, if this girl died, there wouldn't be a witch left alive in all of Louisiana.

Antonia began chanting. Minutes passed in agonizing slowness. _Tick, tock_ went the clock above their heads.

Leah had stopped coughing, but that wasn't a good sign. She could now only manage tiny gasps; her body had gone limp, a doll in his large hands.

"What's happening? It's not working…"

"Elijah, let her work." Niklaus was behind him, a hand on his shoulder.

Time was infinite. Being immortal he would wait; she could not.

_Tick, tock_ went the clock above their heads.

"It's not working. It's _not working._"

Her labored chest was no longer rising. Elijah only knew she still lived because she was squeezing the life from his hand.

_Tick, tock_ went the clock above their heads.

"I'm not strong enough, I'm sorry, I can't—"

"Antonia, I swear to god, if you don't fix _her_—"

"Move!"

Hope pushed her way between him and Antonia. She grabbed the witch's hand, and following her example, replaced the hand with her own on the side of Leah's dusky face.

Elijah could not place the look the two witches then exchanged. The utter terror he was feeling had shut down his brain; all he could focus on was Leah's iron grip on his hand.

They began to chant in unison. Hope was using magic, but this was no party-trick magic. This was not right; something was wrong. Klaus didn't understand what was going on; he looked up at Hayley for answers, but she was wiping tears from her eyes.

Was she crying?

Hayley was asking herself the same question. The tears had come unbidden, she realized. One moment, it was simply super unfortunate that Leah was apparently dying before their eyes. That next, it was an unbearable tragedy. The sound that escaped her when Leah bolted forward gasping in long full breaths was one of genuine, pure delight. Hope was crying too; her daughter looked over at her and Hayley saw the utter joy on her face. But she also felt it.

She felt the joy.

She was _feeling _her daughter's joy.

Oh no.

This can't be happening.

Elijah was barely keeping it together. Leah's face had returned to its original color; it glowed with a slight sheen.

He could tell she was trying to manage a small smile.

To let them know she was okay. _She was okay._

_She's okay._

Hope had her hands around hers. His were still around her too. He slowly raised Leah up, propping her up against the refrigerator.

Fear is power, Klaus remembered as he watched the scene before him. Fear is power and it had a powerful hold on his brother.

After all, fear takes many forms.

The crowd broke out into a dim murmur, but Elijah was only focused on the sound of Leah's heartbeat.

It beat to the rhythm on the clock above their heads.

"Okay." Her breaths were shaky, uneven, but they kept coming. "Okay, wow."

She coughed. Hope jumped up to get her some water.

"Easy, Leah." Her hair was sticking to the side of her face. Elijah pulled it away one strand at a time

It was then Leah noticed that she was basically naked from the waist up. Her dress had been cut completely down the front; the lace of her bra was caked in blood.

"Not cool, Elijah."

He knew she meant the vampire blood. He didn't give a damn in hell.

"See, Elijah?" she exhaled, her breathing steadying. Taking the water from Hope, she surveyed herself and her ruined dress.

"Now aren't you glad I didn't wear your dress tonight?"

She was making a joke.

She was definitely okay.

Elijah wasn't so sure about himself.


	13. Sabotage

_Pick up, pick up, please pick up._

She cradled the phone to her ear, pulling her thick cardigan around her tighter. She was out in front of the house, down the drive a bit. Several party straggles were at last making their way to their cars. _Too much excitement for one night_? She wondered darkly.

Hayley was in a horrible mood. She did not appreciate crying over other girls who were not her own daughter.

As soon as Hope had led Leah upstairs, Hayley had reached for her phone. If tonight had proven anything, it was that past was coming back to bite her in the ass.

_Pick up your fucking phone, Rebekah_.

Click.

"Hayley?"

"Rebekah, oh thank god I got you."

"Bloody hell, it must be the middle of the night there. Is everything alright?"

"It's 2am. Tonight was the Faction party."

"A success without incident, I hope."

"As if we're so lucky. There was definitely an incident."

For once, incident was not an exaggerated term. Hayley told Rebekah about everything in the past weeks since Halloween: Leah's shoulder, her miracle recovery, the vampire blood in the coffee, tonight.

"She seems like such a nice girl, I don't understand why this is happening to her."

"So, Hope's been filling you in?"

"Of course, she calls every Thursday in between classes. You'd think she'd leave her favorite aunt in the dark?"

Hayley laughed, a tired, exhausted laugh.

"There's more."

"I figured. Go on."

Hayley hesitated; she was about to open a huge can of worms. The lid couldn't easily be put back.

"I think the sire bond is back."

She could hear Rebekah shuffling around through the line, the sound of a door being slammed. At last she spoke.

"How do you know?"

Where do I start?

"You know about Halloween, right?"

"Of course, Nik was with me when you called to let me know Hope had been attacked. Elijah called and basically repeated the story minutes later."

"Well, that's it, Elijah - the girls called Elijah for help and yet I show up first. Get this, I'm sitting at home flipping through channels when I feel the pull."

"The pull?"

"The pull, _the pull,_ the pull: the one that I felt the entire first year she was with you."

The pull; the pure agony of the pull.

Every feeling of extreme happiness, fear, _longing -_ she had felt. Felt, and could do nothing about.

"I thought you broke that."

"I did."

"Then how is it back, Hayley?"

"I don't know."

"Are you _sure_?"

"It's kinda obvious. You would think I have two daughters if you could see the way I've been interacting with Leah lately—that must be Hope because I am definitely not _that _fond of her. She's kinda annoying…and demanding…and she's really bad at puzzles."

"Like you?" Rebekah offered cheerfully.

"Hey, focus. I'm serious, even Elijah questioned how I got to Hope so fast on Halloween. He even straight up asked me if the bond was still active."

"Ah, my brother can be oblivious sometimes."

"It's not his fault. He still thinks I just learned to control it, ignore it. I never told him the whole story."

"What is the whole story, Hayley?"

Second can of worms, coming right up.

"Um…"

A car passed. She squinted as the headlights passed over her. Hayley retreated further into the darkness, stepping into the night.

"When I turned my humanity off, it wasn't because…because..."

_Cami - the straw that broke the camel's back._

Or so she had them think.

"What was it because," Rebekah coached, countries apart but perceptive as ever.

"To break the bond."

"You went full on ripper for half a year to break the sire bond to Hope?!"

"I couldn't go every day feeling her…not when she was with _you_!"

"Hayley, you took out an entire coven of witches."

"That wasn't all me."

"Hayley!"

"Well, jeez, thanks for being so understanding."

"Hayley! You realize Elijah blamed himself for that! He still blames himself."

"We are not talking about Elijah, we are not bringing him into this. Rebekah, I am calling because I need _your_ help. I am asking for _you _to help. I feel like I'm losing my mind, I am feeling things, doing things that aren't … me."

Silence over the line; another car rolled past.

"You think Hope's manipulating the bond?"

"I think so."

"On purpose?"

"I don't know."

More silence, but you could have heard the sounds of their thoughts spinning.

"You need to sever the link, but this time get a witch to do it, make sure it sticks."

"Oh, easy for you to say, do you _know _a witch we can trust? What about the one who bound Hope's powers?"

"Dead. No loose ends, remember?"

She remembered. Come on, give me something I can work with, Rebekah.

"Davina."

_Rebekah…_

"No way," Hayley had to protest, "she stopped practicing years ago."

"Once a witch always a witch."

"Then let her live her life…"

"Hayley," Rebekah lectured in her _shut up and listen _tone, "now is not the time for sentimental nonsense."

You could say that again.

"Call me when you've reached out to her. And one more thing."

"Anything."

"You have to tell Elijah."

Oookay, time to end the conversation.

"Goodnight, Rebekah."

'Good morning, actually, but whatever, _à bientôt_, dear."

Click.

There was one more thing, one big thing, that she had wanted to ask Rebekah about. But the thought, half-baked in her mind, was too ridiculous to take up her time at the moment. Still, she made a mental note to send Rebekah the photo of Hope and Leah she had hoarded on her phone for weeks and then ask her opinion on the matter.

Later.

Presently, there were more important problems, like regaining control of her mind. Hope might be manipulating the sire bond and not even realizing it; she wasn't sure if she even knew about it formally. _Damnit,_ she should have asked Rebekah if that had ever come up. She had missed so many moments of Hope's life in the ten years she was away, moments she could never get back, which letters and postcards couldn't make up for.

She hated thinking about it.

Hayley glanced up at the house. The light in the guest room was on. That girl, that poor girl, had nearly choked to death in the middle of a Christmas party.

Thanks to Hope and that other witch, she was fine. _She's okay._

Hayley was relieved beyond belief, but then again, was that her or the sire bond?

Wait.

That's what she had forgotten.

Hope had done _magic_. Not floating candles, or blooming roses, or changing her eye color magic.

Real magic. She had just fought off a hex on floor of their kitchen.

How on earth? Her powers were bound years ago. Right?

Right?

She brought up _recent calls _and hit send.

"Hayley?"

"One more thing-"

"I figured."


	14. Au Revoir

Hope had left about half an hour ago. Leah could hear the gravel crunching beneath spinning wheels below her window. It was late, the party was over, and she was exhausted.

And still kind of drunk; dying apparently didn't sober you up as much as you would think.

She had decided to take a shower, if only to give her mind time to wind down before bed. Hope had begged her to spend the night in her room, but she had gently, but firmly, reminded her friend that she was indeed a big girl, and could take care of herself.

"Are you sure?"

"For the millionth time, I'm fine."

"If you need _anything—"_

"I know, Hope. Goodnight."

"Are you sure?"

"Hope!"

"Okay, okay, goodnight."

She had told Hope that she was fine, but as the minutes slipped by in the silence of her empty room, she wasn't so sure anymore; she in fact had so many emotions forcing their way out that none of them were actually getting out.

She wanted to scream.

She was a bomb, waiting to explode.

_Tick, tock,_ she could still clear that damn kitchen clock in her head.

She had been so scared.

It felt strange admitting it, even if it was just to herself.

One moment, Klaus had been going on about power: fear is power, love is power, _family_ is power, blah, blah, blah, and then she couldn't breathe, and she couldn't breathe, and she couldn't breathe and she realized she was going to die. Right there by the fridge. They had all tried to help, a family affair, they had all been there by her side.

She could still feel Elijah's grip on her hand.

An anchor in the storm of bullshit that had been the last two months of her life.

Elijah, oh lordy lordy, this was problematic.

She pressed a hand to her temple. _This is not the time to shift through all your fucking issues, Leah._

So many issues; her mind was reeling. She jumped in the shower, but somewhere between the shampoo and the conditioner the water on her face was mostly her own tears.

_I don't care whose fucking party it is, I _will_ cry if I want to._

That had been then. Now she was out, dry-eyed, wrapped in a house robe and doing a half-assed job at drying her wet hair.

There was a knock and the door opened before she could even turn around.

"Elijah?"

"Leah," he breathed.

Leah didn't even care anymore that she was wearing nothing but a robe; this was their thing, she guessed, though you _are_ supposed to wait until someone says 'come in' before you actually come in.

She didn't really actually care about that either. It's hard to care about a lot when you almost just died.

"Leah," he breathed, that open expression on his face was the same he wore in her dreams.

Was she dreaming? This did seem like the beginning of a dream - a sexy dream, _wink wink._

_Oh, Jesus Christ, Leah, really, you're thinking about that _now_?_

Dying does weird shit to your priorities.

She answered just to slap that desperate look off his face.

"I'm fine. My throat's a bit scratchy and I'm gonna have a killer hangover in the morning, but, all things considered…"

Her smile was completely disarming, but it didn't settle his nerves at all.

_Fix it. Fix her._

"Leah."

"Yeah?"

Her hair was still wet, the towel forgotten in her hands. He only just remembered that you are supposed to wait until someone says 'come in' before you actually come in.

"Forgive me, I…I had to see you. To make sure…in person…"

"That I'm okay? I'm okay."

She gave him a perplexed yet amused look, tossing the towel and grabbing a hairbrush from the top of the dresser. She pointed at him with it.

"And for what it's worth, themed holiday parties, 0/10 would not recommend."

She dropped the brush and jumped; Elijah had moved from the doorway into her personal space in three seconds flat.

Earlier, down in the kitchen, that was new; he was supposed to be the older brother, was supposed to have all the answers, but he had been completely useless.

And it pissed him off immensely that some witch had been the one to save her.

_Fix it. Fix her._

A part of him wanted to grab her, pull her into his arms, and apologize for having been so fucking useless tonight when she needed him the most.

A part of him just wanted to do this -

He kissed her, hard.

The rest of the world went dark but she was the sun.

His hand traced up her back, across her bare shoulder, deep into her damp hair.

And she kissed back, my god, she was kissing him back.

He pushed her up against the dresser, bracelets and barrettes rattled in their silver trays. The neck to her robe began to slip along her pale shoulder as he traced her neck with a feathered touch.

They would have words with him, but consequences be damned. Act first, ask forgiveness second. She had walked into his life…and it was _his _life to live.

_I live in the now._

They were on the bed, his jacket discarded, his tie loosened.

They were having a heated debate, but their hands were doing all the talking.

He reached for the knot of her robe.

_If I feel something, I act._

Hayley's words were flooding his mind. He didn't know why: was it a warning, was it a blessing, was it time to move on with his life? He didn't know, he just didn't know.

He just didn't fucking know.

And he couldn't think, not with her lips on his.

She had started from the top, one button at a time.

_If I want something, I take it._

_I'm sorry, Elijah._

_Elijah._

_Elijah_, she growled, annoyed at his wayward attention.

"Leah," he breathed.

She tugged the shirt from his pants.

"No, Leah, I can't."

"What."

"I can't."

He pulled away; the bed squeaked under the weight of his disappearance. The look she was giving him would have dissolved a lesser man.

He hated himself sometimes.

"I can't."

"Yeah, I fucking heard you the first time, you idiot—you can't just stop. You can't just leave."

He picked up his jacket, if only not to look at her. She didn't belong here; he was the spider in the center of this web, the web she found herself trapped in. He should let her go.

But all he wanted to do was devour her.

He had to leave.

Now.

Right now.

"Don't you dare, don't you fucking _dare,_ Elijah."

He left. The door remained open into the dark hall.

Leah sat up in her bed, pulling her robe back up around her.

This time there was no shower to hide her tears.

/

Her room was a mess; a hurricane had come through it in the night. She hadn't slept, how could she? Her body was buzzing and her mind wouldn't turn off. _Flight or fight_; she just wanted to run, run far away from Elijah and from Hope and from this damn house.

She hadn't felt like a fool when she was choking to death on nothing just last night on someone else's kitchen floor, but when Elijah had left, she felt like a damn fucking fool indeed.

She _was_ a damn fucking fool. Klaus was right: if she truly wanted to leave, she should have just left.

She had been packing all night and into the morning.

It was 8am.

Someone appeared in her doorway. She only glanced up to make sure it wasn't Elijah. If it had been, she probably would have hurled her shoe at him and thrown herself from the window. That would show him; cleaning up shattered glass is a bitch.

It wasn't Elijah, thank god. She pushed one suitcase off the bed and replaced it with a smaller duffle.

"What?" was the only acknowledgment Klaus was getting.

He ignored the tone in her voice and took her brevity as an invitation to enter.

"Last night was certainly eventful."

No shit, Sherlock.

She continued to shove blouses into her duffel.

"I come with good news."

Mikaelson "good news," she was sure.

Klaus continued to move into the room despite her unresponsiveness. He placed a hand on the bedpost. The other was hiding something behind his back.

"I came to tell you…our investigation in the Quarter has been unfruitful. Perhaps I was premature in assuming your involvement with the incident on Halloween, though you will understand my caution, of course. Hope is…dear to me. I will not hazard her life; her powers are bound, her werewolf gene is untriggered, the sheer force of the Mikaelson name will only protect her so far."

Leah was listening, but she still didn't look up from her violent packing. She shuffled across the floor to the dresser, pulling out a stack of messily folded jeans. She shoved those in too, still ignoring Klaus's raised eyebrows.

"I came to tell you that you are free to return to campus, though it appears you already received the message judging from the sight of this room."

"No." She balled up a sweater and shoved it in.

"No?"

"I was just gonna run away."

"Ah, well, about time."

There is silence. Klaus surveys the room. Leah zips up her bag and throws in on the floor.

"You know Hope has never had a friend like you before."

This small talk was completely unnecessary.

"You mean you never let her have a friend like me before."

Klaus chuckled at the truth of it.

"Truth be told, you have made quite the impression on people. Did you know both Hayley and Elijah spoke to me on your behalf? Don't underestimate the allure of a charismatic soul."

"I'm not much."

"Humility is an unattractive virtue, Leah. It's a shame to hide behind that one when you have so many others: you're clever and tenacious, and as Elijah has told me on several occasions, your ability to tolerate my poor manners is, well, _supernatural._"

He grinned at his own joke and didn't notice her wince at the sound of his brother's name.

Klaus brought forth what he had been hiding behind his back. It was her puzzle; all the pieces had been put back and a rubber band held the box together.

"I wanted you to have this. Honestly, I was never fond of keeping it around. Bought it for a crazy ex a long time ago."

"What happened to her," she earnestly inquired, taking the box from him with two hands, "that she didn't want it."

"Died," he chirped, moving on quickly. "Look, I will not apologize for what I have said in the past about the witches; they have harmed this family in ways you cannot comprehend. But perhaps you deserve more credit than I have extended in the past months."

"That almost sounds like a compliment," she shook the box before setting it next to her backpack on the bed.

"You remind me of a friend of mine. She…we - lost her in the in fallout of Hope's birth."

"Can I ask what happened," she ventured, slowly folding a pile of hoodies and sweatshirts that had been hiding her laptop charger.

"In every war there are those who simply get caught in the crossfire. She was brave, like you, and that love, that is the highest compliment I can give you."

Leah smiled. It was so ironic: one brother turns into a total dick and the other grows a conscience.

Oh, what a night.

She reached for her backpack as Klaus reached for her suitcase.

"Let me help you take these downstairs."

/

She ran into Hope in the foyer.

"Why is there a cab outside?"

"I'm going home."

"Back to campus? Dad let you off?"

"Yes, Hope, _your _dad let me off."

Okay. She's lucky nearly dying gives you a pass on the attitude.

Hope picked up one of the duffel bags and helped her move it out to the waiting car. Ordering a cab seemed a little ridiculous when there were three other cars parked in the drive.

"I'm sorry again I can't drive you back, mom won't let me, but did you ask Elijah? He's up. Can't Elijah drive you back?"

"No, Elijah can't drive me back," she said far too quickly.

Okay…

_What did I miss?_

Had she found out about the blood?

"Well, I'm glad your arm's better. Crazy, huh?"

"Hope, I'm sorry, but I am going home. _My home. _I just want to get out of here as fast as I can." She loaded another bag in, slamming the trunk closed behind it.

"But it's winter break, the dorms are closed, just stay here a lit—"

"Clearly this was lost on you the first time I explained it, but I do actually go somewhere between semesters. I don't just hide out in the attic of the English building with the rats."

Hope threw up her hands in resignation.

"Oookay. Sorry? Just offering?"

Leah yanked open the door to the cab, leaning in a moment to give the driver directions.

"Bye, Hope, maybe I'll see you when classes start back up, yeah?"

Hope watched the cab drive off the property and onto the main road. She was confused, and just a little hurt.

I mean, yeah she had been trapped here for two months and someone did just try to kill her last night, but….

I mean, the party wasn't _that _bad, right?

**AN: I'm like super crazy happy how this chapter turned out! Also, fuck Elijah, but like **_**fuck Elijah, **_**am I right? ;)**


	15. We Don't Eat

**AN: I am getting a lot of feelings writing these chapters so here, have more chapters! Now you can have the feelings too! **

"Davina, we are out of flour."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I checked, no one put it on the list last month. I have to run to the store anyway, can I get the card?"

"Who's watching the food?"

"Rachel and Bethany."

"Rachel is 15," Davina pointed out.

"But have you _tasted _her cookies? She knows what she's doing, and I'll be back super quick, promise."

Davina took out a credit card from the top pocket of her jacket and handed it across the desk.

"Sign my name."

"Okay."

"And here, take the van and the back door keys."

"Gotcha."

Leah ran out.

"And bring back the receipt!" Davina shouted through the open door.

"Okay!" came the reply, echoing from the dim hallway.

_That girl._

Davina turned back to her reports.

The office was sparse; the paint needed a touch-up and there were way too many crucifixes on the wall and it smelled like an antiques store; in many ways, it reminded her of the attic of St. Ann's where she'd spent 8 months of her life.

She started just volunteering on the weekends; then she was there every weekday, helping the kids with their homework. Then they had made her Afternoon Activities Coordinator, which was cool because she got to drive the van; and look at her now, getting 23 kids through the busy, holiday season.

Davina had to admit she enjoyed Christmas best at Holy Cross House. Those alumni who were still in the area always came back to celebrate with the younger kids; it was the mission of Holy Cross that no one ever feel left out, current resident or not.

Leah was a regular face. Most of the time, she would stay on campus, or sublet from some friend nearby during breaks. Sometimes, however, Holy Cross had an extra room she could stay in over the winter or summer intercession and Leah would spend the whole time there, helping with the really small kids and coming back inappropriately drunk from partying with her old Holy Cross cohort.

Davina had even given her a key so she wouldn't have to have one of the Sisters buzz her in on such nights.

Yes, this had all started out as a volunteer gig years and years ago; she had needed an outlet for all her energy when she stopped doing magic. Davina had only escaped the sanctions placed on the other Quarter witches by giving up practicing—but that had honestly been voluntary too. She was done with magic. What had it every done for her? Where had it ever gotten her but used and abused, but ousted and alone. After Cami, that was it; she was done being a pawn in their war—and it was _their_ war.

Why keep fighting to get Klaus' child back when he was taking away parents from children everyday?

Orphanages swell during times of supernatural conflict and St. Ann's had needed all the help it could get.

That's when Leah had come to them, left in a basket with a letter and a necklace; one burned, one locked away.

A mystery in history.

Despite her violent beginnings, Leah was honestly an angel in disguise. Davina would keep her close forever if she could; she always expected to see Leah at least once a year.

She did not expect to see Hayley Marshall anytime soon though.

"Long time no see, Hayley."

"Davina. This is where you wanted to meet?"

"It's a busy time of year, it was most convenient."

"Huh," Hayley surveyed the office. "Don't tell me you're a nun."

"Ha, no, I just volunteer for the parish, but recently I have taken up most of the administrative duties. Funding is tight and I'm willing to work for free."

"Such a good Samaritan."

"Not at all, I have known most of these kids since they were small. They're my family in a way and you don't abandon your family."

There was bitterness in her tone that Hayley wasn't going to address. She dragged her fingers along the desk, stopping to pick up a photo frame.

"This is you and Marcel right?"

"And Josh."

"And Josh," she added regretfully.

"Jeez, I forgot how young you looked back then. You were actually kinda adorable."

"I'm still kinda adorable."

They smiled, though it was a tense intermission. Hayley set the frame back down, pulling her sweater closer around her shoulders with a little shrug.

"I have a problem."

"I assumed as much. Random call out of the blue? You haven't talked to me in like...five years."

"No way, more like two...three? Look, can you help?"

"I have to know the problem first."

"The _problem_ is right outside."

Hope sheepishly poked her head into the office.

"_Wingapo_," she greeted.

"Hope?"

"Hi, Ms. Claire."

She came to stand obediently by her mother.

"Hope here has been doing magic."

Hope cringed; Hayley was using her stern mom voice. Davina's concerned expression wasn't helping either.

"What kind of magic?"

"Magic she shouldn't be able to do."

"Well, no problem there; even if a witch has her powers bound, she can still do small, simple spells. Nature wouldn't leave her completely defenseless."

Davina might be a grown woman now, but Hayley apparently hadn't gotten the memo.

"No, Davina, I don't think you are understanding me."

The condescension was totally unnecessary. She knew Klaus and Hayley had their reasons for distrusting the witches, but who came to who for help exactly?

Hayley continued like Davina was still 16 years old.

"I'm not talking party trick spells. She and Antonia fought off a _hex_ on Leah the other night."

"Our Leah? Leah St. Ann? When was this?"

"Faction Christmas Party."

"Antonia didn't mention this to me."

"You spoke to her?"

"Briefly, I called to congratulate her on her engagement."

Hayley kept an eye on Hope, who was doing a poor job at trying to sneak away behind the desk. The back wall was covered in frames of photos of children, boys and girls, toddlers through teenagers. They went way back; some of the photographs were in black and white.

"Whoa," Hope breathed, not even realizing she was talking out loud. Her finger had landed on one individual; Leah had been as thin as a rail and as tall as a pole through her teen years.

"How long has this place been here?" She asked Davina, now searching for Leah in the other photos.

"Since the 1800s. There was a huge witch massacre, a lot of orphaned children."

Davina gave a very pointed look that Hayley chose to ignore.

"So sad, anyway, can you help?"

"I'm sorry, you want _my_ help?"

"I need to know how my daughter can do magic."

"Why don't you ask her?"

Over fifteen years of working with teenagers and small children: Davina knew the symptoms of a guilty conscience when she saw them.

"What does she mean?" Hayley drawled, turning to her daughter.

_Oops_, Hope whispered.

"Hope…"

"I, yuh…"

"_Hope_…"

Hope spun around from the photo wall, rocking on her feet like she was still 12.

"I _may _have been drawing from the sire bond."

_Excuse me?_

"Hope Mikaelson, explain yourself. Now."

Oh, shit, she was in trouble.

How could she explain this while ensuring that the fewest people ended up dead?

"I was told—"

_Oh god, here we go._

"—that hybrids can form sire bonds—"

"Told by who? I called your aunt; she never brought it up."

"Anton—"

"Antonia? You've been hanging out with Quarter Witches?"

"Mom, if you aren't gonna let me speak, answer your own questions then."

_Damn_, Davina thought. The apple certainly did not fall far from the tree.

"Hope…" Hayley spoke slow and dangerous, a hand on Hope's shoulder, "tell me what you did, _without_ the attitude."

"As I was saying," Hope yanked her shoulder free. "Antonia told me about hybrid bonds. She was just trying to help; she said that if I was ever in danger and I needed to do magic, like to protect myself, I could draw on the bond…between us."

Hayley threw up her hands.

"Great, I have wayward witches teaching my daughter dark magic."

"It's technically not dark magic," Davina interjected, "and Antonia is correct. A sire bond is a powerful magical occurrence, especially one between a mother and daughter. Hope can draw from it if there's an emergency, even with her powers officially bound."

"Well can you explain how she drew from a sire bond that didn't actually exist?"

Davina answered a question with a question.

"It was broken? How did you break it?"

"Meditation," she lied, poorly. Whatever Davina was thinking, her face kept the secret.

"Your sire bond is still innately connected to your bond to her as a mother, it can never go away completely; I guess Hope must have just reactivated it by calling upon it too much."

Hayley spun back around to face her daughter.

"So, tell me, Hope, what was this big emergency that forced you to use your mother for your own personal gain?"

"You're being dramatic, mom."

"I'm being dramatic? You're the one who linked us so you could show off to your friend."

"I wasn't showing off, Leah was _dying._"

Davina watched from the sidelines; Oh man, this family, this was better than daytime TV.

"You do know I feel everything you feel through the bond?"

"Well, then you know just how irritated I feel right now."

Hayley roughly grabbed Hope by the arm and forced her to her side.

"Don't talk, just stay. Your father is going to hear about this."

Davina tried to keep a straight face at the mere idea of Hayley and Klaus as competent parents. Were these seriously the same people who had killed her best friend Tim, manipulated her to take back the Quarter and then tried to force her to fight against the witches?

Hayley snapped her out of her thoughts with a frustrated growl.

"Can you block the bond and bind her powers again or not?"

"Yes."

"To which one?'

"Well, both. I can do it, but I need something from you."

"I figured. What?"

"Well, a vial of your blood to start, from each of you."

"And?"

"I need you to convince Elijah to remove the Full Moon clause from the treaty."

"You're kidding me, right?"

Davina knew she was playing with fire, but growing up had made her a lot more confident, in herself and in her abilities.

"Like I was going to do it for _free?_"

"_Davina!"_

"I'm not your pet witch anymore, Hayley. Rescind the clause, I'll do the spell."

Hayley was considering just snapping her neck and calling it a day. The only reason she didn't was because she could feel Hope's fondness and admiration for Davina as if it was her own.

_Fucking sire bond._

"Okay, the clause…that only applies to practicing witches being within city lines on a full moon, you're exempt...what does it matter to you?"

"It's unfair."

"You're gonna have to try harder than that."

"It's been twenty years, can't you cut the witches some slack for good behavior?"

"You do know who you're talking to, correct?"

Davina wasn't budging.

"Fine, I'll talk to Elijah. No promises though, so you better think of something else you want. A castle in France, perhaps? I think we have one too many at the moment."

Davina was not amused.

"As soon as Elijah agrees, send me the blood and I'll get started on the spell. I can only do it on a full moon though, so don't wait too long or you'll be waiting a while."

"Fine. You have a deal."

"Not yet. I want you to promise me now that doing this one spell for you will not be considered a violation of the treaty."

"Can't promise anything, that's Elijah decision."

"Then you better get Elijah to promise or deal's off. I'm not stupid, I want it in writing."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Hayley began to drag Hope off.

"Wait," Davina maneuvered from behind her desk, picking up a lanyard full of keys from the desk, "I have to buzz you out downstairs. Safety procedure, so the kids don't run away."

"Ah," breathed Hayley, following Davina out with Hope.

/

"They had a sale so I got the bigger size."

Leah halted. No one was in the office.

She shrugged, dropping the credit card, receipt, and key ring on the table.

She turned to head back down to the kitchen, but stopped abruptly at the threshold.

_No one was in the office._

Leah scrambled across the room, snatching the key ring back from off the table and jamming it into the keyhole for the top desk drawer.

It sort of went in half way, but it was clear it wasn't the right key. She tried another, but this one wouldn't even go in.

_Come on, please, work, work._

She jammed in another, then another, straining her ears for the sound of footsteps.

_Please, please, bingo! _

The drawer popped open: papers, papers, receipts and more administrative papers.

She shifted through it all erratically.

Where was it?

Where was her necklace?

_Please_, she begged to no one in particular. With a frustrated grunt, she slammed the drawer closed.

She paused.

There was another drawer lower down.

Again, she tried one key, two, and a third. It opened.

More crap.

_Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around._

She found herself reciting prayers she had learned as a child.

_There's something lost that can't be found._

She dug through the drawer: folders and folders and folders.

She knew it was here.

Nothing, _nothing,_ there was nothing here.

It wasn't here.

_Well damn._

She struck a pensive pose; she needed to think, where could they have moved it?

The floorboards in the hall creaked.

_Shit._

She shot up.

"Davina!"

"Oh, back already Leah?"

"Yep, said I'd be quick!" She leaned on the desk, pushing the drawer closed slowly with her leg.

"Oh, and here's the van keys."

Davina received the keys, pretending to think for a moment longer.

"Thank you… you know, are you still friends with that Hope Mikaelson?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda, we're in classes together."

Leah circled out from behind the desk.

"Well, just my opinion, but I'd stay away from her if I could. Her and her family; they will turn you into one of them."

"Yep sure, couldn't agree more," Leah nodded, just trying to leave as fast as she could.

"You better go check on Rachel and Bethany."

She was almost out of the door.

"Right, because Rachel is 15."

"And Bethany shouldn't have that much sugar."

"Right-o. I'll do that now."

She had reached the door.

"Oh, Leah?"

Crap. She slowly turned back toward the office.

"You forgot your flour."

Davina handed her the shopping bag with a smile.

"You are a _life-saver_, Ms. Claire."

"Uh-huh, don't 'Ms. Claire' me. Go, get outta here."

Leah sprinted from the room.

Davina jingled the keys in her hands, watching her flee down the hallway.

That girl had no idea how right she was.


	16. Bend or Break

She was nursing a hangover and craving something greasy real bad.

After leaving the Mikaelson's, she had slid back into her old ways in mere days. Today was like every other Sunday morning in college, except school was currently out. It was New Year's Day; the only grocery open nearby was the global foods market down the block. She didn't know what half the stuff was they sold, but they had Gatorade and Doritos—breakfast of hungover champions.

Leah had barely been back in her apartment three minutes when there was a knock on the door.

_Stop knocking_, Jesus Christ, her head.

She grabbed her Gatorade bottle and stumbled over to the door; not only did it have a million locks, she had to tug hard to pry it from its frame.

"No fucking way."

"Morning, Leah. Are you…ill?"

"What? No, I'm just-"

"Are you sure, you look…exhausted."

Jeez, she didn't look _that _bad.

"A late night will do that to you."

She looked him up and down; how did he manage to always look so put together, especially when she currently felt like a train wreck in a tornado and probably looked just as bad.

She could feel his eyes on her.

"What, don't tell me you've_ never _had a hangover. Ugh, that's right, fucking vampires."

"Happy New Year to you too."

He was carrying bags in his hands, plastic bags from the fancy organic market several blocks over.

"What are those?" she dared to ask.

"I stopped by earlier. I hope you forgive me for looking around; I couldn't help but notice you only have pickles, eggs and orange juice in your fridge."

_Un-fucking-believable._

She opened the door wider, one hand on her hip.

"And I have a stick of gum in my pocket and half a bagel around here somewhere, that still doesn't make it okay for you to just come into my home."

"Is that what this is?"

"_Yes_, Elijah, I live _here_ during breaks, it's cheaper than renting near campus and if you remember, I couldn't _work_ because it's hard to hold a _job _when you can't actually leave the house."

Two seconds in and Elijah was really grinding her gears.

I mean, where did he get the nerve to act first, apologize later. What a horrible habit.

Wait, back up.

"You were here earlier…in my house…in my _fridge_? How did you get _inside_, I thought you needed to be invited in."

"Apparently, you are not the owner of this...most humblest abode."

"I said, it's cheap," she barked.

"But you did not sign a lease, it appears. Or pay rent."

"Is that how you can just stroll on in... yeah, well, I'm working something out with the landlord. Friend of a friend."

"You mean your campus drug dealer friend."

"_You checked out my friends, Elijah?"_

There were enough supernatural foes after her; he sure as hell wasn't going to let some human riffraff bring her to harm. Elijah didn't feel the need to justify anything, but still, he simply commented:

"We often assume the habits of those we associate with."

Oh, he was _really _pushing it.

"You know, not all my friends have the luxury of being supernatural Princess Barbie. But they are good people. Good people, just trying to get by."

They stood there wordlessly at the door. She could let him in or slam the door in his face: she really wanted to slam the door in his face.

It would probably fall right off its hinges though.

"Well, come in before the milk or whatever spoils."

He had to slink around her because there wasn't much space. He didn't even take off his coat because he wasn't sure where to put it. The bed took up most of the small studio and her stuff littered the floor. The room was stifling hot, a geology textbook kept the window cracked. There was a folded bit of cardboard steadying the table's wobbly leg.

"Is the table stable like that?"

"No, try over there."

Elijah followed the direction of her hand and piled the bags on top of the small personal fridge. He put the milk inside and then wondered where everything else would go given the lack of cabinets, drawers, or a kitchen in general.

Leah started to clean.

"You went shopping, like you actually set foot in a grocery store?"

"I did."

"I don't believe it."

"I did."

"I still don't believe it."

She pushed a stack of books and boxes under the bed with her foot.

"No need, you don't have to tidy up for me, it's your home."

"If you want to sit, I'm gonna have to move some shit off the chair."

She stopped, a pile of dirty laundry in her hands.

"Well, if I had a chair."

He ended up sitting on the corner of the bed; it sagged significantly with his weight. Leah had crawled up near the pillow, legs crossed; she was staring straight at him, daring him to say something.

They both were thinking of the last time they had been on a bed together.

"Leah-"

"Don't open your mouth unless you're going to explain."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, yeah, dick move, but that's not an explanation."

They listened to the cars below the window for a moment. There was a commotion: gunshots or fireworks, but something more exciting than this conversation.

Elijah was delaying, taking a moment to survey her room. When he had heard the cab drive off that morning, he knew he was the cause. Niklaus may have released her from his ridiculous mandate, but she would have stayed if he hadn't given her a reason to run away. He had gone about it poorly, he told himself as much; just because he didn't have his life together didn't mean he should have ruined hers.

She was staring at him.

The paint was peeling up and down the wall.

She was still staring at him.

Does this room even have lights?

There was movement from the table.

She was about to say something…

"You can't live here," he concluded firmly, interrupting her thought.

"Are you seri—"

Her initial rage toward Elijah was immediately redirected.

"Oh, hell no."

Leah lunged, rolling off the bed.

A rat had found the other half of her bagel on the table and was delightfully nibbling away at it, oblivious to the company. Leah leapt at it with her copy of _Henry V, _but the rat scurried away under the radiator.

"Fucking rats."

"Indeed," Elijah agreed.

She threw the book on the floor, cursing inaudibly.

"You can't live here," he repeated.

"'Cause of the rats?"

"For one. How long do you need somewhere to stay?"

"Just until the third week in January."

"What do you usually do over winter break?"

"There's no room this year at Holy Cross."

"Perhaps a place that has more than enough room then."

She pointed her bottle of blue juice at him, wondering what he was getting at.

"Are you going to tell me what you're thinking or am I going to have to play 20 Questions?"

"Grab the milk and follow me."

/

The milk now lived next to the Gorau Glas and some super fancy cold-pressed OJ. Everything was fancy in this fancy ass kitchen. He promised to get some guys to move her stuff later that afternoon. It would only be temporary of course, but the idea of having Leah so close had put a stupid grin on his face the entire ride over.

He had even let her choose the station and gladly suffered through her choice in popular music.

The peace was tentative; he still owed her answers.

She now sat on the counter, banging her feet on the cabinets below.

"So, where have you brought me?"

"The Compound."

"The whata-what?"

They had stopped for rat-free bagels on the way over. She was currently eating one; he was putting the other eleven away in the breadbox.

"The Compound is our residence in the Quarter."

He didn't even realize he had said _our _like she was one of them.

He dug into the utensil drawer.

"I thought this place was a nightclub."

She extended her open hand toward him.

"Sometimes, for Faction events or tourists parties. We host them in the courtyard."

He put the knife for the cream cheese in her hand.

Predictably, she turned the knife on him.

"Ok, talk."

"About the morning after I presume."

"The morning after _I almost died_, yeah, then."

He bundled up the empty grocery bags and threw them under the sink.

"Are you sure you want to do it here, in the kitchen?"

"Why not? Some of my most exciting life events occurred in kitchens, why break tradition… and you're delaying, sit still and just answer the question."

"What question?"

She was actually going to stab him with the butter knife.

"Elijah Mikaelson, grow up!"

He was being puerile and he knew it. He was also afraid and he knew that too.

"Why did you leave?"

He leaned against the counter opposite her, palms up in supplication.

"I had too."

She jumped off the counter, advancing with a half a bagel in one hand and the knife in the other.

He wondered if anyone was ever so unafraid of an Original.

"Try again."

She stood before him now; he thought she might actually shank him, but she threw the used knife into the sink beside him; licking cream cheese from her fingers, she sauntered back to her counter.

_Jesus, Leah, are you doing this on purpose?_

He tried to speak with some sense of composure and authority.

"We were… moving too fast."

She nearly choked on her bagel.

"Wow, what textbook did you get _that_ from?"

"I'm serious."

"Oh, I know, it's one of the problems I have with you."

Elijah crossed his arms, listening.

"And the other?"

"_Others_, plural. You…are…non-confrontational… diplomatic…to a fault, mind you… and a tiny bit elitist…and I cannot stand all these mixed signals you are throwing my way, Elijah, I've got whiplash. I think I've been abused enough, thank you."

He agreed completely.

"You don't think we should know each other better before…starting something?"

"Aha, now who cares what people think?"

"Leah, I only care what you think."

Uh-huh, sure…

She gave him a minute to retract that last statement, and when he didn't she instantly found herself in a much more forgiving mood.

He wasn't off that easily though.

"Well, one," she took another bite, using her free hand to count, "I'm pretty sure we've already started something, unless kissing people is how you say 'sorry you almost died' to everyone. And two - lame excuse. Haven't I been grilled enough in the last three months? What more exactly do you want to know about me?"

"You really don't know who your parents are?"

She finished her bagel, wiping her hands on her jeans.

"I assumed you ran a background check on me," she sternly accused.

"Standard procedure."

"And?"

"Nothing. Unknown mother. Unknown father. Left at St. Ann's at 10 months."

"There you have it, boys and girls."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Let me ask, why does it bother _you?_"

Fair question, Elijah admitted. He shifted, loosening his tie a bit under the pressure.

"Everyone deserves to know where they come from."

"Maybe, but not everyone cares."

Leah was startled, then annoyed; was he actually laughing at her?

"You care, Leah. I know you care."

Ok, now she was confused.

What were they talking about?

_Who _were they talking about?

He locked eyes with her until she had to look away.

She didn't know what frustrated her more: the fact that he assumed to know her so well or the fact that he did know her so well.

Grumbling, she pulled away from the counter, throwing up her hands in a huff.

"See, you know everything about me already, Elijah. Case closed, I guess I'll just go home now."

She made to leave.

It was all a show; they both knew it.

She wasn't going home.

She _was _home.

With a sudden step forward, he grabbed her gently by the wrist.

"What now?" she dared him to answer.

"You care…and I care, and that is why I left that night. I cared about you, Leah, and I didn't want to do something you would regret later; and I did care what people think—but not anymore."

He held her wrist tighter, lest she slip away forever.

But she eased back toward him, ready to listen if he was ready to talk.

They were facing each other now; his fingers slid along her wrist until they intertwined with hers.

"By people…you mean…Hope?"

It was a question and a statement at the same time.

"And Niklaus and Hayley and Rebekah."

"_Rebekah?_"

Was that a flash of jealousy he saw in her eyes?

"My sister."

If you could see the face she was making now.

"Okay, wait, whoa, since when is our relationship a family affair?"

"_Our _relationship?"

Leah smiled, and then she kept smiling until her cheeks hurt.

"I mean, that's what we're doing right now, right? DTR in the nightclub kitchen?"

"You make it sound so…uninspired."

He squeezed her hand and her laughter filled the empty space.

"Well…feel free to inspire me…as much as you want, whenever you want."

He didn't need to be told twice.

She knocked the cream cheese off the counter onto the floor as she was hoisted up, wrapping her legs around him as he kissed her into the cabinets.

His jacket joined the cream cheese, then his tie, then her shirt, on the floor.

She always wanted to do it in a nightclub.


	17. Ships in the Night

**AN: We are almost to the end of Act II, lovely readers! Are we headed for a Comedy of Errors? Or is something rotten in the state of Louisiana?**

He untangled himself from her.

The wine-dark duvet pulled away with him as he rose from the bed, exposing her pale skin to the cool air of the master bedroom.

January had come mild, but nights in the Compound increasingly grew cold.

Although still deep in dreams, Leah was displeased by his absence. She made an unintelligible, whining noise in her sleep that he found incredibly endearing.

She was incredibly endearing, every bit of her.

Turning back toward the bed, he kissed her on the head before pulling the covers back over her shoulders.

It was her last free day before the start of spring term: _let her sleep._

And anyway, he had a Faction meeting to prepare for.

It was incredibly early; the sky was still grey. He could hear workers down in the Compound's courtyard already preparing, dragging in folding chairs and setting up the rows and tables.

The first Faction event of the year was a large affair, a town hall meeting of sorts. Interested parties beyond just official Faction members were encouraged to come and voice their concerns. Every year, it was always the same: the witches wanted this ban revoked, the werewolves wanted that tax recalled, while the vampires simply wanted more tourists to drain and the humans wanted to stay alive just a little longer in this world.

He would listen politely and pretend to take notes because before long the fighting would start: the werewolves would refuse to host the parties for the vampires to bring in tourists for the big New Orleans festival that the witches couldn't even attend.

It was one big necessary headache.

He didn't particularly wish to style himself an autocrat; he'd leave it to Niklaus to call himself King of the Quarter. But the truth was written, in the blood on the treaty and on the walls of New Orleans: these people could not rule themselves.

The words of the treaty were law, but they would tell you that Elijah Mikaelson was the law—and the law did not go back on his word. It was ultimately pointless to attempt to amend the original provisions of the treaty.

However, all other matters were up for negotiation and thus the Faction still served a purpose, at least by providing the supernatural community some semblance of freedom and democracy.

The price of democracy was constant vigilance.

There were people after Leah. On Halloween, it had been some vampires, those who had been relegated across the river in the years after the birth of his niece. And at the Christmas party, that had been witch work. Assuming the hex was placed on her moments before, the culprit could have been in that very room, that very night.

And he had just let everyone walk out of there.

He caught himself staring at her sleeping form as he wrapped a robe around himself.

Elijah knew there was unrest within the factions, but that was nothing new; beasts do not bend freely to the yoke and kings are crowned to be beheaded. The wolves, witches and vampires were naturally distrustful of each other, but the enemy of my enemy is a friend, right? Would they go after Leah to get back at him? A bit presumptuous, perhaps, on their part; by Halloween, she had been but a compelling curiosity.

And now she was the beauty who made him feel not so much a beast.

He was not so foolish that he could not see the pattern; two attacks on big, important nights, in relatively populated places. He would not give her enemies—his enemies now—the opportunity to harm her again.

Today's Faction meeting was such an opportunity.

When better to send a message then when the king held court?

_The play's the thing__. Wherein I'll __catch the conscience of the king__._

He checked once more on Leah: still asleep. She had been safe at the Compound for two weeks; the whole time, they'd barely left, and she'd barely realized that was on purpose. Once she returned to school tomorrow, the curtains would once again go up on whatever those who wanted to harm her were planning.

He hesitated upon the threshold; it wasn't too late to change plans.

If they wished to put on a show, he'd simply remove the stage.

Leah stirred; once in the hall he shut the door gently, his bare feet on the cool grey flagstones.

Mornings in the Compound were increasingly growing cold.

/

Her phone vibrated on the nightstand. It was a nice new one Elijah had gotten her when she had straight up lost the back to her old one after it had fallen off for the umpteenth time. Currently, it didn't quite matter much how new or fancy it was, she wanted to smash her phone to pieces.

It was fortuitous that Elijah was already up because her first reaction was to whack the other side of the bed with her arm, trying to silence the buzzing through a display of sheer violence.

The annoying rattling continued. She rolled over, crawling from beneath the warm covers.

Grabbing the phone, she answered, eyes half-closed with sleep.

"What."

"Leah?"

_Oooooh Crap. _

She bolted upright, pulling strands of hair from her mouth.

"Heeyyy, Hope."

"Sorry, did I—did I wake you?"

"Kinda."

"It's 11:30."

She ignored the judgmental tone and pulled the silky sheets up over her cold, bare shoulders. She was still half-asleep; the last thing she wanted was to listen to a Hope chat-a-thon so early in the morning.

What? 11:30 was early! She was still on break!

"So what's up?"

"Dad's back in France and mom has a meeting. We're driving into town now."

"Okay."

"Okay? Leah, let's meet up! I'll be parentless the whole afternoon; I can hang out with you finally! _It's been forever."_

"Uh…"

Leah scratched her head. Only Hope would think three weeks was forever.

"Okay, so what did you call for?"

"Leah, _get up_. We are hanging out! Catch a movie or lunch or -"

Wait a second…

She pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the time on the display.

She was suddenly wide-awake.

"_Where _are you?"

"Like right now? IDK, uh…we just pull off the parkway, mom's speeding (_what? You are!), _she's doesn't want to be late to the Faction meeting."

"The Faction meeting today…the one at noon?"

"Yeah…how'd you know?"

_Double crap. _

She had about twenty minutes before Hope and her mom walked through that front door.

She struggled to untangle herself from Elijah's sheets. She smashed the phone between her cheek and shoulder so she could use her hands to go on a search and find for her clothes.

Last night had been kind of…chaotic.

She pulled an arm through her shirt.

"Actually—yeah, let's do something, whatever, I should get out of the house anyway."

"Are you staying at Holy Cross?"

She glanced at the clock, buttoning at lightning speed. She had just skipped the bra.

"Uh, yeah…"

"Funny, I stopped by a few days after Christmas, I didn't see you."

_Fuck._

She had one shoe, a single sock, but no underwear. The phone was slipping from her shoulder.

"You stopped by?"

"Yeah, mom knows Ms. Claire, hey what were you saying before? Movie?"

11:36.

"Yeah…" _god damn_ where were her clothes, the room wasn't _that _big.

"Leah?"

"Yeah, sorry, um, listen, movie sounds great. I love movies-how about AMC on Lambert…there's a Chipotle," she bribed.

Chipotle _and _it was far enough away from the Compound that she should be able to avoid, well, everything and everyone currently.

_Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, where the fuck is my underwear?_

"Ok, cool, what movie?"

Another glance: 11:38.

Maybe Saint Anthony wasn't the patron saint of lost panties after all.

"Leah?"

"Huh."

"_What movie?"_

"Whatever starts between now and noon."

"What?"

"Just…meet me at the theater."

"Ok, cool, see you soon, bye."

"Bye," she barely got out before dropping the phone unceremoniously on the floor so she could use both hands to pull up the bed skirt.

_Ah, right, of course. Found them._

She pulled on her clothes from yesterday. It was already 11:41, she needed to book it before people started to arrive and she still had to fetch her bag and coat which were all the way down the hall in her room. Anyone of the Faction members would surely recognize her from her dramatic recital at the Christmas party; the last thing she wanted was Hope to learn she had been staying at the Compound before she could tell Hope herself.

She was going to tell Hope, right?

Like about…the thing that Hope should probably know about?

11:45.

_God dammit._

Racing down the interior staircase minutes later, Leah paused midway down the steps.

She had expected the courtyard to be full of people: Elijah keeping order and wolves and witches and vampires already yelling about motions and resolutions and whatever they did at this supernatural Model UN.

Well, there was Elijah at least.

"Where is…everyone?"

"I sent them home. I cancelled the meeting."

"You can…do that?"

She descended the last few steps in disbelief.

"When the need arises."

She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, swooping in under his outstretched arm. He steered her around edge of the courtyard as they began to walk toward the side gate.

"And the need arose?"

"Indeed. Classes resume tomorrow."

She groaned, leaning in to his chest.

"That's the big emergency?"

"It's part of it; you are leaving tomorrow."

"Ugh, don't remind me. Crappy food, scary showers, tiny, tiny beds…"

He nodded in greeting to a worker who had already begun removing the chairs and tables from the empty courtyard.

"If I remember, it was you who insisted on returning."

"And I still do, I'm just saying, I'm going to miss some things I've gotten used to in the last few weeks," she teased.

He opened the gate for her and motioned for her to continue on.

"Like what," he crooned, joining her game.

"To start, a kitchen that I don't have to share with an entire hall."

"A tragedy, I believe it."

He was leading her around back toward the garage.

"And then there's your extensive liquor collection. I'll miss that."

"Naturally."

"And of course, getting to sleep late in the most _comfortable_ bed in the world."

"Hmhmm, is that all?" He pulled a set of keys from his breast pocket, motioning to the Escalade. He led her around to the passenger side, opening the door for her.

"Yeah, that's it…am I forgetting anything?"

"I'm sure you'll remember" he joked, pecking her on the cheek before gesturing for her to get in.

"Are we going somewhere?"

She slid in, throwing her bag in the back seat. Elijah was just settling in on the driver's side.

"We, Leah, are going to the dealership."

"The dealership?"

"I am going to buy you a car."

"A _what?"_

"A car, or van, or whatever young people drive these days. Consider it a belated Christmas present."

Leah buckled herself in.

"But...I didn't get you a present."

Elijah started the ignition, a smug smile gracing his face.

"If you use the car to come visit me from campus, that will be present enough."

_Ah,_ Leah smirked to herself, facing forward in her seat.

_Sly bastard._

/

Hayley had just dropped off Hope at the movies. She arrived at the Compound just as Elijah and Leah pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road. Her boots echoed on the courtyard stones as she approached the lone figure, a man stacking chairs onto a little dolly.

"Hey, you, yeah, isn't there supposed to be a meeting here now?"

"Mr. Mikaelson cancelled the big meeting today, miss."

"Cancelled?"

"Yes, earlier this morning. Bit last minute, something must have come up."

She pulled out her phone to check if Elijah had texted.

Nothing.

"Okay, thanks."

"Sure, miss. You have a nice rest of your day."

Hayley doubted it.

/

Leah was 45 minutes late.

If she was coming at all.

Which was becoming less likely as every minute passed.

She leaned against the theater's brick façade, two tickets balanced lightly on her knee. She had just gone ahead and bought them because the previews had already started by the time her mom had dropped her off.

Hope had texted Leah, called a couple times, left two very exasperated messages.

Had she, like, fallen back asleep?

She checked the time on her phone. What was she supposed to do for 3, 4 more hours until the Faction meeting let out?

An earlier movie must have just ended. People were exiting in flocks, squinting with that dazed look you get from sitting too long in the dark then bursting out into the sun.

A guy in a pink polo and a fleece pullover slowed as he passed her.

"Hope?"

"Aidan?"

"You know my name?"

"Of course I know your name. Why would you think I didn't?"

"You called me 'frat boy werewolf guy' for four straight years," he pointed out flatly.

He noticed the two tickets forgotten in her left hand.

"Boyfriend stand you up?"

"Ha-ha, nice try. And _no_, if you must know, my friend, who's a _girl_, is running late."

"Oh."

He ran his fingers through his blond hair like he was sitting on the beach in California.

"Gotta say, I'm surprised to see you out and about without your parents or like a guardian or something," he observed.

"Gotta say, I'm surprised to see your nose finally healed," she responded curtly.

They just kind of smiled dumbly at each other for a second before he got an idea.

"Well, if you like want to, like, wait with us, or just join us, me and my brothers are going to get some lunch."

"Hang out with a bunch of werewolf fraternity boys?"

"We're going to Chipotle."

Hope pulled herself from the wall.

Well, she _was _hungry.

Fine.

Why the hell not?

Leah can suck it.

"You should have mentioned the burritos first," she scolded him as they caught up with the rest of his pack.

/

Her new car was packed and ready. Returning from the garage with the keys, Elijah found her in the kitchen of course. She was hopped up on the center island eating peanut butter out of the jar with her finger. The spoon lay abandoned on the counter.

"Well, you've certainly made yourself at home."

"I also licked all the bonbons so hands off," Leah joked.

He conceded to her demand with an unassuming gesture before making his own.

"Stay here at the Compound."

She knew this was coming. She crooked her head slightly with an amused expression.

"I can't. I have to go back."

"A reason?"

She strategically chose that moment to plop another blob of peanut butter in her mouth.

"Just one," he pushed her.

"I already paid for my room."

He tried to throw money at the issue.

"Ah, ah, nope," she stopped him before he even got started, jumping a bit in her seat. "You _just _bought me a car, let's lay off the monetary investments for a bit, yeah? And anyway, I _want _to spend my last semester on campus."

Her phone slipped from her pocket onto the counter.

"Hmmm," Elijah wondered playfully, "with your campus drug dealer friend?"

"Hey," she warned teasingly, at the same time looking down at the phone that had slid out of her jeans, "his name is Zach, and he's gay. You can stop being jealous now."

The smile fell off her face.

Elijah came closer.

"Who is it?"

"Oh, shit."

She set the peanut butter jar on the counter, using both hands to text furiously.

"Leah…"

"It's…damn, it's Hope. I…_shit_."

She finished texting, before setting the phone down on the counter next to her and running both hands through her hair in frustration.

"I _completely _forgot I was supposed to meet her at the movies."

"Is that where you were running off to this morning?"

"I wasn't running off."

"You were wearing the same clothes I ripped off you last night."

Leah whacked him on the arm, frowning at his amusement.

"This is not a joke."

"I thought you said I was too serious."

"Elijah!"

"Right," he cleared his throat taking her hand in a sympathetic gesture, "what happened?"

"Hope called this morning. I was supposed to meet her at the movies but then I came downstairs and you had cancelled the meeting and then the car stuff and I…just forgot. Shit, why'd I have my phone on silent, I missed like a hundred calls from her."

"Hope will understand."

"_Hope _will understand, do you know this girl?"

The air shifted between them uncomfortably.

Of course Elijah knew Hope better than Leah did.

For a moment, she had forgotten that Elijah was Hope's uncle, that he had known her for years and years longer than her few months.

For weeks, she had ignored as much the same. She may have been joking, but the difficult truth was in her words:

They were family, she was not.

Despite what Elijah had said, Hope's opinion could not be ignored.

Or delayed any longer.

Still clutching the phone in both hands, she looked up into Elijah's eyes.

"I have to tell Hope."


	18. Female Robbery

Elijah slowed the car; there was a girl on the side of the road up ahead, thumb out, hair flying loose in the cool winter breeze.

He rolled down the window, leaning across the passenger seat.

"You know hitchhiking is dangerous."

She placed one hand on the roof and leaned into the open window.

"I need a ride back to campus."

"What are you even doing all the way out here?"

"Short cut gone wrong?"

"Get in the car," he ordered, annoyed by her risky behavior.

"You know, I really shouldn't get into cars with strange men I don't know."

She opened the door and slid in any way.

"Nice try, buckle your seatbelt, Leah."

She ignored him, fixing him with _those eyes._

He kissed her quickly before hitting the gas.

They drove along. She immediately made herself at home in his car, throwing her school bag in the back seat and cranking up the radio. She was using her fingers like drumsticks, hammering on the dashboard to some popular young person song.

He moved to turn it down.

"No, stop," she whined, swatting away his hand.

It was then he noticed; that was new.

"Leah, that's a lovely bracelet."

It was slim and woven, a silver thread around her pale wrist, simple yet elegant; positioned within the braid of the bracelet was a tiny, black stone.

She waved her wrist in his face, teasing cheerfully like a child gloating over a new toy.

"Why thank you, someone very charming and attractive gave it to me," she grinned.

"Who?" he asked concerned, if not a bit possessive.

Leah ignored his tone and kept bopping her head to that stupid song. The bracelet jangled as she moved.

"Leah, I asked you, who gave you that bracelet?"

He hazarded another glance at it.

"You did, you nut-head. Alzheimer's finally setting in?"

Why did she never take anything seriously?

His eyes darted between Leah and the road ahead of them.

"Leah, I did not give that to you."

"Yes. You. Did. For Valentine's Day, what is wrong with you right now? Are you okay to be driving?"

He turned to her, fixing her with a stern look.

"Oh, serious vampire face, okay what I do this time?"

"Leah, that bracelet is incredibly important, why would I give it to you?"

"Ouch," she cringed.

"I mean, that is an extremely precious stone."

"Double ouch, do we need to pull this car over and talk or are you going to pull your shit together anytime soon?"

"Leah, please, who gave you that bracelet?"

"You did, Elijah."

"Please don't make me compel you."

"_You did, Elijah!"_

"Leah…"

"Elijah!"

"Leah, please…"

"No, Elijah, look out!"

Everything went dark as they plowed into the oncoming truck.

And then the room slowly came into focus.

His room. His bed.

Elijah pulled himself upright.

He ran a hand through his hair. It was damp with sweat, so was his pillow, his sheets -

He immediately pulled his phone from the night table and hit the speed dial.

"Whaaaa?"

"Leah?"

"It's so early, Elijaaah."

"Are you okay?"

"Ask me again after 10."

"Okay, go back to sleep."

She dropped the call without another word.

She was okay. It was just a dream.

He rolled out of bed, running a hand across his tired face.

That was the third time this week.

The same exact dream.

Or the same exact nightmare; he didn't like how it ended.

Elijah didn't need Leah's dream interpretation book to figure this one out.

If you can't run from something, perhaps you are meant to tackle it head on.

Valentine's Day was tomorrow; he would visit the plantation house today.

/

Elijah lifted the box from under Niklaus' bed. It was small and wooden, and surprisingly unlocked. Standing back up and placing it on the nightstand, he eased off the top.

The black stones remained dull in the morning light.

Most were loose, some were set in rings.

He had thought there would be more; Niklaus seemed to hand them out like sweets.

He doubled checked, although it was entirely clear given the size of the small casket.

There was definitely no bracelet.

But this was definitely the right stone.

He closed the lid, furrowing his brow in frustration.

There might be other kyanite stones in the world, but only his brother held those spelled by a witch.

That's what didn't make sense.

Genevieve had spelled them for Niklaus to help the werewolves. This was before she had betrayed them, of course. After that, it hadn't mattered how much she had helped them in the past.

_No one hurts my family and lives._

Why did Leah keep showing up in his dreams wearing a stone she didn't need on a bracelet that didn't exist?

He moved to return the box to its hiding place when he remembered his original plan.

It was a month since she had told him she would tell Hope everything. Every weekend she had returned to the Compound, and every time he had asked:

"How'd she take the news?"

He wasn't so sure anymore that Leah wasn't a magician; she was that good at pulling excuses out of thin air.

"Busy week, didn't get around to it."

"Huge paper, I've been in the library for days."

"Had to work overtime, big weekend for the Alumni Association."

"Uh…it was raining? Really hard?"

"And so you couldn't talk to Hope?"

"No, because I had just curled my hair so I needed an umbrella and my dorm was in the opposite direction and I was already late…to…zumba."

"Zumba?" He questioned.

"Zumba." She affirmed.

He wasn't even sure she knew what zumba was; he sure didn't.

Yet after each excuse he would hold her hand, kiss her gently, and drop the conversation.

_Who was the non-confrontational one now?_

Perhaps (he had thought about this long and hard), perhaps if she felt more secure in relation to the others she would not be afraid of talking to Hope. Of course, he planned to have a chat with his niece once Leah broached the topic first, but the concern was just that: he and Hope were family, Hope and Leah were not. Friends are not privileged to the same considerations as family. Elijah had learned this over and over through the centuries: no matter how much you disagree with, or even hate your family, you can't push them out of your life forever.

_Always and forever. _

Leah may not be so lucky.

He needed to show Leah, give her something so she felt connected – grounded - not just to him, but to the rest of the family as well.

_An honorary Mikaelson._

They say the worries of the day manifest as dreams when you sleep.

His certainly did.

And it was clear what he had to do.

He reached in and pulled out a loose stone, sticking it in his front pocket. There were still enough remaining stones that Niklaus wouldn't immediately notice its absence, that is, unless he obsessively counted them each night (which was completely possible, he had to admit).

He would deal with Niklaus later.

Before leaving the house, Elijah took a moment to find a bit of paper and a pen. Sketching what he could remember from the dream, he folded the design and pocketed it along with the stone.

His next stop was the jeweler's on Royal Street.

/

The bell chimed as the door swung shut. He had made arrangements for the design to be crafted posthaste; he would double the fee if it were completed in less than twenty-four hours.

Leaving the store, he ran straight into Hayley.

That was likely not a coincidence, Elijah sighed.

"Please tell me you aren't coming out of a jewelry store for the reason I think you are."

"No, Hayley, I am not pawning off our priceless family heirlooms for petty cash."

"It jokes. You're in a good mood."

"Are you in town on an errand?"

_Classic deflection; nice try, Elijah._

She adjusted the stack of folders under her arm for effect.

"I just stopped by St. Ann's, picking up some files for Klaus from the sacristy. He's drafting a report, or resolution or something—he wants to speak at the next Faction meeting."

"This is news to me."

"Yeah, well, you haven't been around the manor much."

"I'm never around the manor much," he pointed out.

"You were…when Leah was staying with us."

_One point to Miss Hayley Marshall._

Hayley was playing games, Elijah recognized.

"How is she?" he asked innocently. "I hope we didn't disrupt her life too much, holding her hostage for two months and all."

Elijah was playing games, Hayley recognized as well.

"Well, back in classes Hope tells me, back in her old job, back in her old dorm, so back in her old life as well I guess."

"Delighted to hear it."

Hayley had to be honest.

"I'm just glad she's finally out of our house."

Elijah narrowed his eyes, trying to place the meaning behind her words.

"I mean," she continued, "It must have been really hard on her, being away from campus for so long. I'm sure she has friends her own age who missed her terribly."

Friends_ her own age. _

_Hayley 2, Elijah 0._

You really couldn't miss her insinuation. Elijah shifted, gazing aimlessly down the street for a moment.

He turned back to Hayley just as the wind picked up.

"Niklaus tells me you advocated for Leah's liberation, so thank you, Hayley."

Hayley struggled against the wind blowing her hair into her eyes.

"Yeah, well, Klaus told me you threatened to sock him in the jaw if he didn't let her go, so no, _thank you,_ Elijah."

Her sarcasm was verging on antagonism and Elijah found himself getting defensive.

"I don't believe I will ever understand your distaste for that girl."

"Don't worry Elijah, it's nothing personal; it's funny, she actually just reminds me of someone I can't stand."

"Yourself, perhaps?

_Oh, desperate move, Elijah._

She had to concede him the point though. _  
_

Once, she would have rammed the end of the nearest street sign through his chest for that comment, back when she would snap at anyone who even looked at the wrong way. That had been a rough six months, even worse when she came out of it. But presently she was wise enough to know that Elijah was now the one acting out in frustration; she had been honing in on the real subject of their conversation and she was dangerously close to hitting the mark.

Not that she was going to let him know that.

There are two rules for success in life, Hayley reminded herself.

1. Don't tell people everything you know.

And that was it, so Hayley kept her suspicions to herself.

"Nice try, Elijah, I almost forgot how dirty you can play."

"You of all people can't expect me to be the noble one all the time."

"Oh please, Elijah, no one's called you noble since you slaughtered that entire coven of witches. Wonder if Leah knows about _that _bit of history."

_3-1._

Now it was Elijah's chance to turn the other cheek.

"Are we done here, Hayley, I have a lot to do today."

He started down the wooden promenade without waiting for an answer.

"Ah, wait, I completely forgot."

She easily caught up with him, though that didn't stop him barreling along.

She had to jog to keep up with his eager strides.

"I actually did want to talk to you about something: Davina wishes to purpose an amendment to the treaty on behalf of the witches."

"Motions can only be considered during a meeting."

"Yeah well, time is kinda of the essence and you cancelled the last one."

"Something came up."

"Funny, that's the same excuse Leah gave Hope when she stood her up at the movies. On the same day as you cancelled the meeting."

_4-1. He was losing badly._

Elijah stopped abruptly; this was typical Hayley: wolves rarely gave up the hunt until their prey was dead.

He gave her the attention she wanted.

"How very funny indeed, how about this. If she stops by the Compound, I will consider Davina's proposal in person and give her an answer on the spot."

He already knew the answer would be _no._

Hayley wondered if that was going to work for Davina; she had wanted something in writing, a verbal agreement was not enough. And then there was the small matter of letting Elijah in on the sire bond issue in the first place, which she was hesitant to do because he was clearly keeping secrets of his own.

Hayley moved closer toward him as a group of tourists passed.

"Elijah, we're still close, right? You would still tell me if something happened that could affect this family?"

"In a heartbeat."

She felt guilty, if only for a second.

"So you would tell me if Leah was staying in the Compound?"

"Of course," he chose his words carefully before continuing.

"If Leah is staying at the Compound, and you wished to know, I would tell you."

"And if you…and her-"

He cut her off before she could score another goal.

"On the other hand, Hayley, if something has no bearing on the safety of this family, then you'll know… _when _I want you to know."

_Point to Mr. Mikaelson._

Hayley raised an eyebrow at Elijah's last comment, dipping into her bag to answer her buzzing phone. She yanked it out: _one new message_.

She spared Elijah a glance before opening the text.

"I frikken knew it."

"Wha—"

Hayley silenced him with a finger. She hit send and held up the phone to her ear.

"Hayley?"

"Rebekah, it's me. Elijah's here too."

"It's her. She looks just like her, you were right, you were _bloody right_."

Hayley looked over at Elijah, knowing he could hear every word.

"Rebekah not here."

"But-"

"Not _here,_" but Rebekah understood, _not with Elijah here._

"I'm just in the office. Call whenever."

She hung up.

"What did Rebekah want, Hayley."

It was not a question.

"I guess you'll know when I want you to know."

She took off at a brisk pace toward the parking lot, leaving him alone on the sidewalk.

_Game, set, match._

Elijah sighed heavily watching her leave, awed by the truth of it:

Hayley didn't start a game she knew she couldn't win.


	19. Ghost

**AN: Just a good time to remind y'all that this story is slightly AU in regard to past history, so just keep an open mind and all will be explained in time. **

**Buckle in tight, kiddos. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!**

Hayley had convened an emergency family meeting. The obscurity of the issue coupled with the hesitancy of her demand had Klaus bored and Elijah worried.

"This isn't another presentation about remodeling the Compound, is it?" Klaus asked, sinking into the sitting room armchair. Elijah was already perched on the edge of the sofa, a tumbler of bourdon ready for whatever drama was certainly about to go down.

After all, there was a reason all three of them were rarely in the same room together.

Hayley ignored Klaus' nugatory remarks and was now banging the side of the laptop with the flat of her hand.

"What are you doing, love, you have to plug it in, it's probably not charged."

She ran the cord along the ground.

"Where is Hope this evening that she is not at this family meeting?"

"Out. At the movies."

"Ah," Klaus breathed.

_Lucky her._

He went back to not caring.

Another minute, and Hayley was fumbling with her laptop, trying to arrange it on the low coffee table in front of them so everyone could see the screen.

She took a seat next to Elijah on the sofa, angling the computer screen so that Klaus would also be in the frame.

"What is this?" he asked, motioning to the set-up.

"One second, I just need to…"

She clicked something and the video feed popped up.

"Elijah!"

His baby sister beamed before him on the screen. He leaned in closer, delighted by this surprise. They had spoken recently enough, but it had been far too long since he had seen her sunny smile.

"Rebekah?"

"Elijah, it's so good to see you! Though, I wish it was under better circumstances…"

Her sunny smile immediately faltered; his apprehensions immediately swelled.

Rebekah must be in her office; there were fancy fashion posters on the wall behind her and the lights of Paris could be seen still sparkling through the wide window.

"Where's Nik?"

"I'm over here," he waved from his chair, scooting in closer toward the computer. "I assume you have some sort of announcement for us? Don't tell me you're engaged…again."

"Don't be an ass, Nik. This is quite serious. Hayley, what have you told them?"

"Nothing, just start with the picture I sent you."

They watched as Rebekah reached across her desk to pull something from off-camera. As she held it up to the screen, it slowly came into focus.

"What is that?"

"It's a photograph," Elijah began slowly, "of Hope…and Leah."

Elijah remembered. Hayley had taken it with her phone before that disastrous dinner at the start of October. Hope had an arm around Leah, who was wearing the dress, the one that had been destroyed months later in that very same kitchen.

Rebekah moved the photo slightly to the side so they could see her face.

"Leah St. Ann, correct? That's her name?"

"Of course," Elijah responded, already confused.

"Is that her birth name?"

"I—I'm not sure," he had to confess to Rebekah.

Klaus shrugged disenchanted, "You're going to have to walk us through this one, little sister, I think you've lost us."

Rebekah exhaled in frustration, shaking the photo.

"Nik, _look at it, _what do you see? _Who_ do you see?"

"Hope and Leah," Klaus said.

"Hope and Leah," even Elijah had to admit.

Hayley pushed the computer closer toward them, sliding it across the coffee table with both hands. Elijah threw up his hands, lost.

"Hayley, why does Rebekah have this photograph?"

"I sent this photo to Rebekah from my phone. I wanted someone else to see it: someone not here in the Quarter. See here's the thing, Elijah: It's Leah. We all see Leah, just Leah. Whether it's face to face or in a photo like this, we all see the same thing, the same girl: tall, ruddy, unremarkable Leah."

Elijah most definitely disagreed, but not everyone needed to know that at this precise moment.

"What's your point, Hayley?"

"Elijah, when I told you the other day she annoyed the hell out of me because she reminded me of someone, I wasn't lying and _I wasn't wrong. _I knew it, since the first moment I laid eyes on her, that she just seemed so familiar, looked so familiar, but I could not figure out why. I just felt, _hate, _when I saw her."

Elijah was hanging on her every word. Klaus was sipping, waiting for the punch line.

Rebekah was still holding up the photograph on-screen.

Hayley pointed to it again with an exaggerated flourish, like a teacher trying to teach a lesson to a group of dim students.

_Extremely dim students._

"Are you two seriously telling me you look at Leah and she doesn't look exactly like—"

"Exactly like whom, precisely," Elijah growled, his patience already pushed to the limit.

Hayley ignored his tone, trying the other brother.

"Klaus, don't tell me you can't see the resemblance?"

Klaus, showing minimal investment in tonight's family sitcom, finished his drink in one go and simply shook the empty glass at her.

Elijah was also over this dog and pony show.

"Hayley, I know you are not _fond _of Leah, but I would judge it even beneath you to come up with some…some plot…which it appears you have also dragged Rebekah into… in order to…to malign this poor girl further."

"This 'poor girl'? Okay, Elijah, one thing, just do one thing for me: you _have_ to admit this, we _cannot _move forward until you do: _you do not know her. You do not know who Leah is."_

"Elijah, please, just listen to her," came Rebekah's plea through the computer.

Elijah and Hayley were shoulder to shoulder on the small sofa. The intensity of their mutual glaring could have melted the ice caps and flooded the world.

Klaus looked between the two with a raised brow.

"I feel a bit left out; is there something I've missed?"

She knew, and right before she said it, he knew she knew.

"Ah, yes, background, for everyone's sake: Elijah is sleeping with Leah."

Klaus apparently found this extremely amusing; his chuckling broke the tension.

"Ah, excellent, Marcel owes me 50 quid."

He stood up to refill his glass.

Elijah stood up to leave.

"Elijah, you sit down and listen," his sister reproached him from 3000 miles away. "Before you run off to defend some girl you barely know, maybe you should listen to what your _family _has to say because your _family _may be in danger."

Elijah whirled around, giving this ridiculous presentation one last chance.

But only because it was Rebekah asking.

"Who? Who is this person you hate so much, Hayley, that Leah reminds you so much of that you have dragged us all away from the million others things going on in our lives? Tell me."

He did not sit back down, so Hayley rose to answer his question.

"Oh come, Elijah, just try, you have to picture it yourself or I can't make you see: Leah, but redder hair, larger eyes, condescending attitude, unrealistic sense of her importance in the world?"

Klaus was slowly making his way back from the bar when he stopped dead in his tracks; his mind spun at Hayley's prompting: a face, a painting, and a conversation now suddenly connecting, dominoes falling one over the other 'til they all fell down.

"_Pulled this from the attic. Reminded me of you."_

_Toulouse-Lautrec, 1897, Crouching Woman with Red Hair._

"_I wanted you to have this. Honestly, I was never fond of keeping it around. Bought it for a crazy ex a long time ago."_

"_What happened to her," Leah had earnestly inquired, taking the box from him with two hands, "that she didn't want it."_

"_Died."_

The illusion was lifted; suddenly he too could see what Hayley saw.

"Bloody hell," he whispered to Hayley.

Elijah looked to Hayley, then to his brother, then to Hayley again.

He didn't get it…what did they see that he couldn't?

Elijah was desperate, and worried, and angry.

"Hayley, _tell me now._"

"Genevieve, Elijah. Doesn't she look like _Genevieve?"_

/

It took ten whole minutes for the chaos to die down.

If only just a little.

"They could be sisters," Hayley pointed out.

"It's not possible," Elijah deflected, "I mean, chronologically, it's not possible."

They were both pacing around the sitting room. Rebekah was still on video chat.

"Cousins?"

"Hayley, just stop."

"Mother and daughter then," Hayley pushed.

"This is ridiculous," Elijah fumed, "are you telling me you _actually _think Leah is related to Genevieve?"

"Take Gen and blend her with one of those blond surfer guys and boom—it's Leah."

"This is impossible."

"St. Ann's has no record of her parents…she was born about a year after Hope…the _hair_ Elijah; it's not impossible, you are just…refusing to believe it."

"And you," he continued to gesture violently at her, "you had this… this suspicion…all along? And said nothing until now?"

Hayley was failing miserably at trying to calm him down. Klaus was halfway through pouring himself a fourth drink.

"I told you, Elijah, I knew it, I _felt _it as soon as I laid eyes on her, but I just couldn't…I don't know…I couldn't _see _it. It's like there's a spell on her, like an illusion, and we knew it, we just didn't...didn't know it."

This was impossible to explain and she had been going at it for over fifteen minutes.

There was no stopping Elijah; he continued his assault on Hayley.

"And your explanation is…a spell? Magic? Hayley, you honestly believed someone _spelled_ it so that we couldn't see the resemblance?"

"Well since it's clear as day, someone must have played with our minds."

"But now we can see it—now I can see it?"

Hayley growled. This was going nowhere; now she was just repeating herself.

"Once someone tells you straight up, then yeah, _poof—_illusion's gone."

"_Illusion?_ Do you hear yourself, Hayley?"

"I know it's crazy, Elijah, but you have to admit it's the truth. That's why I sent the photo to Rebekah…she hasn't seen Leah in real life, I needed someone who hasn't actually met this girl."

"_This girl_?_" _

Even Rebekah could tell Elijah was visually upset; his wavering voice betrayed his turbulent emotions.

"Elijah, please, she's not suggesting we do…anything, not right now, but we need to figure this out: if indeed this is the result of magic, then that means the witches are behind it, and then you are all in trouble; _somebody _has been tricking you for months now."

Elijah was still on the defensive.

"It's not Leah, it's not_ her _behind this."

Klaus at last addressed Hayley.

"Ah, don't be so hard on him, love," Klaus hissed, grasping his brother's shoulder in a firm grip. "If anyone would know if the little witch is in fact the spawn of our long dead mortal enemy, then it would be my big brother, naturally, given how nauseatingly close they have gotten since September."

Elijah dared his brother to continue talking. Klaus was content to stew by himself in his chair and backed off.

It was all just too bloody ironic. All of it.

"We can't for sure say that she's not working with the witches. For all we know, she could have been the one to put the spell on us."

There. She had said what she had really wanted to say for the last twenty minutes.

Elijah was starting to doubt her sanity.

"_How _could a girl with _no magic_ enchant not just us, but the entire city of New Orleans to not realize she looks just like her mother?"

"Maybe she lied about the no-magic part too, eh Elijah, or did the thought never occur to you when you were busy playing house with her in the Compound."

This got Klaus's attention.

"You let her stay in _the Compound, _Elijah?"

"She's not a threat."

Klaus leapt out of his chair.

"She certainly is now. Ha," he laughed cruelly, "sleeping with the enemy, my predictable brother…"

Klaus barely jumped out of the way of Elijah's right hook.

"EVERYONE STOP NOW!"

They all turned to the computer, forgotten on the table between them.

"This is not the time for your boyish games," Rebekah reproached them.

Elijah smoothed down the front of his shirt, taking a moment to compose himself.

He was still mad as hell though.

Hayley still didn't care.

"I agree with Klaus, if she is a threat, she will have to go."

"None of you will _touch_ Leah until we are sure we have the facts straight," he warned everyone who would listen.

"I'm not threatening harm to her, Elijah, I just think something has to be done and soon."

"Hayley," Elijah was back to his dangerous voice, "you will not act, you will not go near her, if someone has to deal with this, it will be me, do you understand?"

Hayley suddenly looked completely bored by the subject.

"I really don't care, it's not like I want to see her dead."

Now Hayley suddenly looked completely confused by the subject.

"No, wait, that's the last thing I want. She's just a girl. She's Hope's friend."

Both Klaus and Elijah were staring at her like she had suddenly lost her mind.

Which maybe she had.

Hayley was flip-flopping like a fish out of water.

"Hayley, are you telling me…you now _don't care_ that Leah is probably Gen's daughter?"

"What? No, I—"

She groaned, smacking herself in the head.

"_God dammit, Hope."_

"Excuse me?"

Well, now's a good a time as any.

"It's not me, it's…it's Hope."

"What are you talking about?"

"Hope found a way to manipulate the sire bond."

The silence in the room was a nice change of pace, at least until Elijah broke it.

"Sire bond? _The sire bond?_ Hayley you said you found a way to deactivate it, ignore it, make it _go away."_

This was all too much for everyone today.

"Yeah, I—I did. And now it's back."

"The sire bond cannot be back."

_Why was everyone acting so incredibly stupid today?_

"Hope can't do magic either and look how that turned out! We all saw her at the Christmas party—she was a long way from floatin' candles over the dinner table."

They were all trying hard not admit that everything had officially gone to shit.

Someone had to though, Klaus supposed.

"Well this is complete shit."

Elijah ignored him, deciding alcohol was probably the only thing preventing him from having another go at his brother.

"And you think it's active, right now?" He challenged, filling up another tumbler.

"You think I can't tell when I'm being emotionally manipulated, _Elijah_?_"_

Recognizing a train wreck in progress, Rebekah hit the breaks.

"Let's just focus on one thing at a time, shall we? Hayley, is the bond flaring just now? Does that mean Hope's in trouble?"

"I'm not sure. I don't feel her feelings so much as the emotions she exerts towards others. If she wants me, I come. If she needs me, I'm there. It's hard to describe- it's a pull. She pulls you in."

"And what do you feel now?"

"I have this... sudden desperate urge to find Leah and make sure she is safe-that is definitely Hope, that is definitely not me."

Elijah's face darkened, remembering that mere minutes ago Hayley was insinuating that they would have to do to Leah what they did to her mother.

As if Genevieve was actually Leah's mother.

This whole thing was beyond ridiculous.

Rebekah continued to act as moderator.

"Are you saying Leah is in trouble?"

"Probably," she offered unhelpfully.

"And where is Leah?"

"With Hope," Klaus jumped in, slamming his glass on the table.

"She's -" Hayley clutched the side of her hair, feeling light headed suddenly. Klaus immediately was by her side, guiding her to sit back down on the couch.

She was being pulled, pulled in by the sire bond.

Hope wanted Leah to be safe.

Hope was full of fear.

Fear for Leah.

She _had to help Leah._

"They're in trouble."

"Who? Where?" Elijah begged, already grabbing his coat.

"I don't know-Hope is doing magic, _a lot _of magic. It must be to protect Leah."

Klaus cursed.

Elijah flashed out of the room, returning with the keys to the SUV.

"Everyone, get in the car, we'll start driving until you feel the pull get stronger."

Klaus helped Hayley from the room. Elijah kneeled by the coffee table, facing the computer screen, a hand on the monitor.

"We'll call you when this is over."

"Good luck, Elijah, be safe."

He closed the laptop and fled the scene.

/

/

**AN: Ana, you are the breath in my lungs! Thank you for your reviews, you and everyone! To show my gratitude, have some vague and mysterious answers!**

**-Hope/Elijah interaction is coming up, sorry just had to put lots of things in place before that scene could unfold.**

**-Elijah/coven thing too…(hehe)**

**-Davina (et all) know Hayley turned off her humanity (trust me, everyone knew). It's the true reason why that's slowly coming to light.**

**-Haha, Marcel has his part to play too (hehe).**

**The rest of your questions will be answered in time!**

**PS: PM me your theories—love to here them! **


	20. The Wolves

**AN: It's going down (who's yelling **_**timber?);**_** this chapter is my baby, hope you enjoy!**

"It still smells like new car."

"I know, it's fantastic, right? I wish I could just bottle it up and spray it on everything."

They were returning from the cinema; Leah owed Hope a movie and Hope had finally called bullshit on her many, increasingly creative excuses for not hanging out. Now they were on the parkway out of town; Leah was driving Hope home.

She could do that now!

The road was empty and dark, the glow of the full moon barely enough to light their way.

The Top 40 countdown had just ended and they were hoarse from singing along.

Hope turned down the radio.

"So, my mom said she saw you at the Compound a couple days ago."

Leah kept her eyes on the road.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Can I ask? —What were you doing there?"

"Uh—"

_Panic. _

_Hot seat._

Leah did not want to have this conversation here, now, in this car, ever.

She felt cornered.

Fight or flight.

She kind of wanted to run away but she was kind of also driving the car, so…

There was no escaping this time.

"Uh…when was this again?"

"Like, Tuesday."

"Uh…I must have been picking something up."

"What?"

"This," she took one hand off the steering wheel to shake it. The bracelet jingled and gleamed in the moonlight.

Maybe she could distract Hope enough with the shininess that she'd forget her question altogether.

_What?_

It was a plan and she was desperate.

"What the fuck is that?"

_Nevermind._

Leah returned her hand to the wheel, hazarding a glance over to Hope.

"You don't like it?"

Hope didn't respond and just stared out her window at the passing trees.

"Seriously? What are you doing, come on Hope, what are you,_ five_?"

"What am I doing? I'm just waiting here until you decide to tell me the truth."

The resentment was strong in this one.

"The truth?" she kept her eyes on the road, "I'm not hiding anything from you."

"Okay, so where'd you get the bracelet?"

"Elijah."

"Leah!" she whined.

"Hope!" she parroted back.

"Are you really going to make me drag it out of you? I know you're dating Elijah."

Leah was so startled by just hearing it spoken out loud that she couldn't respond. Hope sighed unnecessarily loudly and returned to staring out the window.

"Hope, I'm sorry, I should have told you."

She just stared out the window.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to like, bring it up in conversation."

She just stared out the window still.

"I mean, I see how it could be a little…weird…for you…"

She just kept on staring out the goddamn window.

Leah angrily turned the radio off completely.

"Okay, this is not fair. Look, if you're mad, or not, or whatever, just tell me, I don't speak passive aggressive and I have zero interest in learning."

Hope was still looking out of her window.

_What the fuck was out there?_

She finally turned toward Leah.

"Well, I _wanted_ to tell you how I felt about it _a month_ ago but then you stood me up at the movies."

"I said I was sorry, something came up."

"Yeah, _something…_you mean my uncle."

"Oh god, Hope don't say it like that—"

"Like what, Leah? Like it is? You were shacking up at the Compound with my uncle and just, like, left that out of the conversation when I called? And when you came back to campus? And every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11am 'til noon since?"

Hope could really run a point into the ground.

Leah drummed her fingers on the steering wheel in agitation.

"I was not going to discuss my relationship with you in the middle of Intermediate Spanish."

"Fuck you, Leah."

_Okay, I deserve that._

"We're really happy together."

"Fuck you."

_Okay, not that one though._

"Chill…will you? It's not like I moved the fuck in…it was just for a few days."

"Yeah, okay."

"My apartment had rats!"

"I'm surprised he didn't just buy you a house like he bought you a new car, and a fancy bracelet and an iPhone—"

"I needed a new phone."

"Why, did your own phone _have rats_?"

Leah was this close to pulling the car over and dumping Hope's ass on the side of the road, bitch could walk home.

She grasped the wheel tight, calming herself. Her pale hands were white in the moonlight.

"I said I'm sorry, and I really, really am, but only that I didn't tell you sooner. I'm not apologizing for dating your uncle and I'm sure as hell not apologizing for not asking your permission first. And you're in _my _car now so quit being a bitch and -"

"It's my uncle's car," she brusquely interrupted.

"It's _mine._"

Hope turned back toward the window.

"Well then, you and _your _car can go fuck yourselves."

_Okay, end of conversation._

She angrily adjusted the rear view mirror.

That's when she noticed the lights behind her, blue and red and a siren to go with them.

"Oh you have got to me kidding me."

She eased over into the shoulder lane as the police cruiser parked behind her.

Leah glared at Hope as she yanked open the glove compartment, digging around for her registration.

This was her fault…somehow.

"You can't compel people, right?"

"No," Hope answered, leaning back into her seat to avoid Leah slamming the glove compartment shut.

"You're useless," Leah only half-joked, rolling down her window.

"Good evening officer, can I help you?"

He was shining his flashlight into the car. Leah had to squint.

"Registration and ID?"

"Yep, here."

"I'll just need to run this, be right back."

"Of course."

She threw her head against the back of her seat with a frustrated groan. Hope turned around in her seat to see what the officer was doing.

"What do they run it for?"

_Oh, now she's being civil._

She had forgotten supernatural Princess Barbie had probably never gotten pulled over before.

"Warrants, and insurance, and shit. God, I don't even know why he stopped me, I was going the limit."

The officer returned.

"Miss, could you step out of the car?"

Hope gave her an unhelpful shrug as she unbuckled her seat beat. The car door remained open, keys still hanging from the ignition.

Leah took a large step away from the Honda at the officer's insistence. Standing now in the cold February air, she was glad she still had her coat on. She rubbed her arms to stay warm, glancing down the dark road as the officer shone the flashlight into the backseat.

That's when she realized there was something suspicious going on.

There was another cruiser parked behind the first. A third was just driving up, lights blaring. It pulled in front of the Civic, parking diagonally across the lane in front of them.

"You too, miss, step out of the car."

Hope slid out of the passenger side. Shutting the door behind her, she made her way behind the car and around to the driver's side, coming to stand by Leah.

She noticed the unnecessary amount of cop cars as well. On instinct, she decided she better take control of the conversation.

"Officer, is there a problem?"

Another voice answered her.

"Hope Mikaelson, _buenas noches._"

All three of them turned toward the officer exiting the second cruiser.

He looked ridiculous in that uniform, like a boy wearing his father's clothes.

"Pablo Guerrera, I should've guessed you were behind this. You look so dumb in that, you know—where did even get that uniform?"

The werewolf looked offended, touching the shiny NOPD badge on his chest.

"What? Don't believe I'm really one of our nation's finest?"

"No, you run a casino and owe the government like a billion dollars in taxes."

"And how you think none of us are in jail? The cops have been in bed with us wolves for years, _princesa_, You don't think they'd let just anyone borrow the cruiser?"

"Out for a joy ride then, is that why he's here, to bring you in for booking?"

Hope motioned to the officer who had pulled them over; another man stepped out of the cruiser blocking the road.

"_Todos los __Fulanos, Menganos, y Zutanos__ en la ciudad quieren ver a la princesa."_

"I'm serious, Pablo."

The men all started laughing. The officer with the flashlight kept shining it in Leah's face.

"Beautiful night, Leah St. Ann."

"Pablo…" Hope warned.

"No, no, this is going someplace…I swear. Beautiful night, chill air, full moon…You know I had to ask some of my officer friends here to help me out tonight because all my brothers and cousins and friends are…well, currently running around as wolves."

Leah shifted uncomfortably, "I thought you were a werewolf too."

Pablo's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Ah, _mía niña pelirroja_. Well let me tell you something, _bruja. _This," he held up his right hand, "this is a moonlight ring. Klaus Mikaelson gave it to me. _The Klaus Mikaelson._ It seems I impressed him with my natural leadership abilities."

Hope snorted.

"Don't flatter yourself, Pablo. Dad gave that to you so you'd finally straighten up and fly right, and I will make sure that he rips it off your finger if you don't end this power trip and let us go."

A low wail started deep in the woods that lined the road.

He ignored her and the howling and continued to address Leah.

"With this ring I can control my curse; I only have to turn if I _want _to turn. I can—"

Hope took a giant step in front of Pablo.

"I'm cutting this lesson short, you either tell me what you want or back the fuck off."

"Same person as last time, darling, _her._"

He flashed his fangs at Leah, who had gone a whiter shade of pale. Hope, completely bewildered at Pablo's comment, swung around to question Leah, who suddenly ducked back into the car to grab her phone from the cup holder.

_It was definitely time to call Elijah._

Strong hands grabbed her by the waist from behind and threw her wholly from the car and onto the cold asphalt.

Her phone fell into the open road where Pablo promptly smashed it to pieces.

Hope was struggling between two of the other officers from the second and third cruiser; each had her by an arm.

"Pablo, you are _so dead," _she hissed through clenched teeth.

Pablo threw up his hands innocently.

"I'm not going to touch her."

The howling increased. Hope wanted to smack that shit eating grin off his face.

"I'm not going to touch her…they will though."

Two wolves broke free from the tree line; she could hear their claws scraping on the pavement.

One went for Leah's right arm.

One went for Leah's left leg.

They began to drag her down the road.

"Pablo, stop," Hope begged, squirming, "what do you want with her?"

If she could get her hands free, she could protect Leah, she could do magic, she could draw on the bond.

But the officers had her hands pinned and she needed them to be most effective with her spell. Pablo was smart; he had selected human accomplices—no supernatural healing. If she tried to give them an aneurysm, she would kill them out right.

But if there was one thing she was good at, it was starting small fires.

She screwed up her eyes and thought of her mother, drawing from the power of the sire bond.

_I need to protect Leah._

Leah was clawing at the asphalt as the wolves tried to tear her in two.

The tips of their tails burst into flames.

_That'll do._

Hope twisted into their grips just enough that she could knee the guy on the right and yank free from the one on the left. As soon as her arms were free, she threw out her hands, slowly lowering her arms as the officers sank to their knees.

It wasn't an aneurysm, but migraines still hurt like a bitch.

She didn't have to be so gentle with Pablo.

As soon as Hope broke free, he had headed for higher ground, using his supernatural strength to leap onto the top of Leah's car.

Hope aimed an open hand in his direction.

"You're dead, Guerrera."

"You're daddy said that _years _ago, we're still here, baby."

He prepared to leap off the back of the Civic onto the hood of the cruiser behind it.

Hope didn't give him the chance.

With a swish of her hand she lifted him up and swung him smack into the nearest tree.

That felt really good.

But Leah was still in bad shape.

She scampered over to her friend. The wolves had backed off, rolling around in the road attempting to put out the flames that threatened to engulf them entirely. Her thick coat had protected her arm from the wolf's bite, but her jeans were shredded up her leg and she was bleeding.

"Are you okay?"

She knew that was a dumb question as soon as she asked it.

Leah pulled herself up into a sitting position, gingerly testing if she could put weight on the leg.

The door to her car was wide open; the keys still hung from the ignition.

"The car, _the car,_ Hope, get in the car."

Leah pulled herself off the pavement, reaching for her phone until she remembered it was in pieces.

She couldn't get a message to Elijah; they needed to get out of here now.

Hope was already in the passenger's seat by the time Leah pulled the door closed and turned the key. The wolves were circling ahead of her; the police cruiser was still blocking the road. She glanced in the rear view window.

She couldn't go back, she had to go forward.

Putting the car in reverse, she shot back a couple of feet before switching gears and hitting the gas.

"Jesus, Leah, slow down."

The wolves attacked, trying to jump onto the hood of the car. One of them managed to latch onto the hood leaving claw marks in the paint.

They jumped in their seats like they'd hit a speed bump.

Hope grabbed the dashboard with both hands to steady herself.

"Did you just run over something?"

"Fucking wolves."

She couldn't care less at the moment who or what she had hit. Her bracelet jangled against the steering wheel as she turned for a second to make sure they weren't being chased.

Not that they could catch her at this speed.

The cruiser was still blocking the road.

"Leah! You're going to hit the police car!"

"That's my plan," she pushed the petal to the medal.

She plowed right through.

The cruiser spun around as her car rammed its rear end. The road was open before them.

They drove for a moment in silence.

"Jesus, Hope, what the hell was that?"

Hope was trying to dig her phone out of her bag.

"No fucking clue, let's just get home fast."

Hope was just about to hit send when Leah cried out, folding in half over the steering wheel. The car began to swerve at 70 miles per hour.

"Leah, the wheel, _Leah_!"

She dropped her phone, trying to gain control of the car. She couldn't get both hands on the wheel; Leah was slumped over it, wincing, a hand clutching her stomach as if her insides were pouring out.

"Leah, what's wrong, _Leah_, Leah!?"

The car was still veering violently back and forth across lanes.

"It hurts," Leah barely got out, painfully turning to Hope. "Jeez-us fucking Christ, _it hurts_."

Hope stared at Leah, still struggling to drive the car from the passenger's seat. Was this the result of the wolf attack? Had her injuries been worse than they had first appeared?

_They were going to crash if someone didn't start driving this car._

Leah was just screaming incoherently now. The car lurched terrifyingly to the right.

Leah was panting, gasping, her weight still slumped over the wheel. She opened her jaw wide, painfully, like the toothache from hell had just erupted in her mouth.

Hope leaned in, pulling on the wheel simultaneously.

She could not believe what she was seeing.

Leah's teeth were slowly lengthening into a pair of perfect fangs.

Hope threw herself into the corner of her seat, letting go completely of the wheel in her fright.

The car, now driverless, swerved hard left, crossing both lanes at top speed.

Until it crashed into a tree.

**AN:** **Chapter 20: the end of Act 2. As you wait for the curtain to go back up, let me hear your thoughts! Reviews always welcomed!**


	21. Brother

Klaus pulled Hope from the wreck. The car was totaled; it smoked precariously and fuel was forming in opalescent pools in the grass.

The black SUV was parked halfway off the road several feet up ahead, all doors flung open in their haste to reach the girls.

The police cruisers were gone, but there was a dead wolf lying in the road.

_Roadkill, _they guessed. _They must have hit it and run off the road._

Hope was coming to in her father's trembling arms. Her mother was equally as distressed, running her hands up and down her daughter, searching for open wounds, broken bones, anything wrong.

Her supernatural healing would kick in any second, but to Hayley, she was still just her defenseless baby girl in her arms.

The car had hit the tree on its left side, buckling inward like a hammer to the side of a tin can. It was partially rolled over; the driver's side was inaccessible. Elijah punched the car in frustration, leaving a dent the size of a crater.

If Hope had been in the passenger's seat that meant Leah had been driving.

Elijah wrenched the passenger's side door from its hinges; it crashed into the middle of the empty road with a cacophonous clash.

Leah was inside, her limp body huddled against the broken glass of the driver's side window.

He was afraid to listen for a heartbeat.

_Please, please, please, please, please._

He would have to maneuver her out from this side. If she was hurt, he would definitely only exacerbate her injuries by pulling her out across the front seats.

He hated himself sometimes.

He stopped thinking and just acted.

She was still warm, she was still breathing, she was still alive.

She was in his arms.

It looked like she was sleeping.

It was so spectacularly peculiar; not even ten minutes before they had been arguing over what she looked like, whom she looked like, why she didn't look like she should. He couldn't see what they saw; no matter whom Leah was related to, it didn't matter to her, it didn't matter to him.

Nothing mattered but the _beat, beat, beat, beat _of her heart.

She murmured something, trying to speak.

_She's incoherent_, he thought, _but she's alive._

Her grey wool coat was red with blood.

"Niklaus!"

His brother ignored him completely.

He walked a safe distance from the wreck before kneeling, laying her down by the side of the road. He took off his coat and used it to support her head; he took off his jacket and used it to keep her warm.

"Niklaus!"

His brother ignored him completely, still bent over Hope. Hayley, however, came running over.

The sire bond must be working overtime tonight.

"Elijah...is she-?"

"She's alive."

Hayley lowered herself beside Leah, pushing the girls' disheveled hair from her face in a tender gesture that was completely incongruous with her sentiments not half an hour earlier.

Definitely the sire bond.

There appeared to be a long, angry gash down her temple and across her cheek. Hayley touched it slightly, wiping away the blood with her thumb.

The wound underneath all the blood was healed.

No, it was _healing_.

Leah stirred again, eyes fluttering open.

"Elijah?"

"You're okay, it's okay, I've got you."

Her clear eyes begged him; she just wanted to _go home._

She doubled over in pain before he could promise her they would.

Elijah retreated slightly, looking desperately at Hayley.

"What's happening, what's wrong with her?"

Leah's eyes shot open, glowing amber and gold in the moonlight.

Not _those eyes,_ those clear eyes he knew so well.

_Wolf's eyes._

"Holy shit," Hayley breathed, standing suddenly and backing up as if it were a bomb and not a human before her.

Well, not a human either.

"Holy shit, Elijah, she's a werewolf."

"That's not possible."

Hayley gave him an angry look in return for his incredulity.

Nothing was impossible, not tonight.

"Klaus! There's something you should know!"

Klaus was just resting Hope in the back seat of the SUV when he heard Hayley call for him. He had wanted answers—now—from Hope, but clearly she needed to rest and let her hybrid healing work its magic.

There would be time for answers.

Right now, Hayley needed him; his brother was probably losing his shit over _the other one._

He was by Hayley's side in seconds.

He stared down at Leah; She had slipped back into unconsciousness, yet Elijah was holding her hand like she would leap up and run away at any second.

_My predictable brother._

Looking at Leah now, Klaus could not fathom how he had not seen it before.

An echo of an echo of an echo of Genevieve: her strawberry hair, her almond eyes, her long fingers, her slim wrists-

_What was that on her wrist?_

The more answers he received, the less happy he became.

"Well that is most certainly unexpected," Klaus remarked, half-amused, half-enraged.

"That she's a werewolf?" Hayley tried.

"Well, yes but—"

"That she's triggered the curse?" She tried again.

"Well, yes but—"

"Then what is it?"

"Hayley, dear, look up."

The moon was the only thing lighting this scene.

The full moon.

Hayley was looking up but Niklaus was looking at him.

Why did his brother think he had anything to do with this?

Oh.

_He knew._

"Care to explain why the unconscious werewolf girl is not transforming, _Elijah_?"

He needed to get out ahead of this; he needed to direct his brother's wrath away from Leah.

_Act first, ask forgiveness second._

He knew there would be no forgiveness.

Not anytime soon, at least.

"Brother—"

The hybrid rammed him into side of the car, his hand fisted into the front of his coat.

"You _dared _to steal _from me,_ brother?"

"You knew?" Elijah struggled to speak. He moved to loosen his brother's grip on him, but Niklaus shoved him violently back into to car, denting it further.

"…that one of the kyanite stones…one of this family's most _prized _possessions, was missing? You underestimate me, _brother,_ if you think I would be so oblivious to everything that even moves under my roof. Now I have been _extremely _forgiving in the last couple months, because I was sure you had lost your mind when you began tripping over yourself whenever _that girl _was in the room. And then she was attacked, in our house, at the Faction party, and do you know what? I actually felt _sorry _for you, for my big brother, who is just…so…desperate…for just a little bit of happiness and yet the entire world seems to be tragically against him."

"Niklaus—"

"_You listen to me, Elijah. _You begged me to let that girl go, to let her leave our house…just to hide her away in another: _the Compound, _Elijah. Oh, I don't know how that one got past my radar, but I…even...let...that...go."

He loosened his hold on his brother, but this philippic was far from over.

He spared Hayley a brief, glance; she was still mollycoddling that damn girl. It only incensed him further.

He took it out on his brother.

"Tonight, oh, this is good, _this is good, _you see, Elijah, tonight Hayley here let us all in on Leah's little secret identity. Now I let that slide because, well clearly we were all played for fools: the daughter of the witch who tried to kill Hope…is now Hope's best friend. Now if that is not the definition of ironic, then perhaps it's time for a new dictionary."

"Klaus, let's not do this now."

"Oh, no Hayley love, this is the perfect time to do it. Because, this, _this_, I cannot let this go, Hayley, because no matter how many times I tell my brother, I _show_ my brother, what happens to those who side against _us,_ he will always find some more…nobler cause…for which to sacrifice _everything _he has built for himself. You stole from _me_, from your _family_…for _her_."

"Niklaus if I had asked you, you would have refused."

"Well, that's precisely it, _I would have refused _your…traitorous scheme to give one of the few remaining stones which cement our family's power in this city away…away to the daughter of the witch who tried to bring this all down around us.

You see, brother, you may run the Faction as its leader, but I am the King of this city, and I know the ways of ruling. You are no better than the riffraff you pretend to preside over every month at those ridiculous Faction meetings. Stoop to the level of the common people and they will drag you down with them, Elijah. Unrest and revolution has been brewing for years, among the witches, among the wolves, among the vampires across the River. And now my own big brother is sleeping with, what, some witch-werewolf love child?- I'll tell you what she is: the perfect leader for all our enemies to rally behind."

He paused just long enough to laugh at the outrageousness of it all.

"And," he pointed a threatening finger at Elijah, "to top it all off, then_ you stole a moonlight stone _for your werewolf girlfriend. What…a…surprise. Well, at least that explains why she was such a shitty witch."

Elijah's jaw twitched.

Elijah was done.

So done.

Klaus was almost done.

He bent down next to Leah. Elijah tensed, ready to fight his brother if he meant to harm her. Instead, reaching over Leah, Klaus pulled the car keys from Elijah's jacket pocket. He tucked them in his hand, leaving his brother with one final warning:

"Careful brother, or I might start to think you're on the wrong side of this war."

Now he was done.

Hayley thought it safe to finally step in.

"Klaus, we need to get them home."

Hayley gently lifted Leah into her arms and started to head toward the SUV.

"Let's put her in the car and go home,_ then_ we can talk_." _

She looked very pointedly at Elijah.

Klaus looked very pointedly at her.

"Oh no, stay where you are Hayley, you will keep that girl away from our daughter. Let Elijah take her," he proposed harshly. "After all, he is rather fond of collecting orphans - his own little island of broken misfit toys, spending all his time trying so desperately to put them back together."

Hayley could not believe how childish Klaus could get at the worst of times. She held onto Leah until she could ease her over into Elijah's outstretched arms. All she dared to give him was an apologetic look before turning back toward the car and Hope.

Enough would be said in the days to come.

Arranging Leah in his arms, Elijah approached his brother and the car.

"You may keep her, Elijah. Far be it for me to stand in the way of your happiness, however _disastrous_ it will prove. So you and her can have the Compound... but this is _mine._"

He ripped the bracelet from Leah's limp arm.

"Niklaus, she'll-"

"Don't worry, dear brother, the moon is past its apex. She'll stay human tonight."

He slid into the driver's seat.

"I know you'll like her better that way," he added before pulling the door closed and leaving his brother standing in the middle of the road.

Hayley had turned around in her seat to check on Hope, now fast asleep in the back seat.

Turning back around, she tried to get Klaus to reconsider.

"You're being spiteful, Klaus; don't punish the girl if you are mad at Elijah. Do you really expect him to carry her all the way back to the Quarter?"

He answered her, jamming the key into the ignition.

"Let him drive her home in that car he bought her for all I care."

Klaus turned the key and hit the gas.

Elijah narrowly missed being run down by his brother.


	22. Waiting Game

Leah woke to the sound of broken glass and heated arguing.

"_Guerreras."_

"Klaus, you are focusing on the wrong thing, nope, stop, put that down."

"Those _bloody _Guerrera wolves."

"Klaus, please calm down. It's not the wolves we should be thinking about: it's the witches. It's the girl."

"I'll kill them, I'll kill the lot. I'll start with Pablo, then his brother, then I'll work my way through their _entire bloodline. _I'll end the dirty lot of them_._"

"Do that and you will most certainly start another war, brother."

"Well, then perhaps I should ask your opinion on how to proceed. If I remember correctly, you took out three, four whole witch bloodlines? In fact, I don't think there's a Devereux witch left in the entire state."

"That was different."

"Oh? Was it? People were after my daughter then, people are after my daughter now."

"They are after Leah, not Hope; Pablo made that expressly clear to her last night. His story agrees with what he told Hayley: that the vampire who attacked them on Halloween said he wanted _Leah_."

"Pablo? Pablo is a reliable source now?"

"Hayley, I _knew_ we should never have pardoned that pack."

"No, you didn't," came her rebuttal, "or did you forget you just recently gave him one of the moonlight rings because of his, quote, _extraordinary leadership potential_?"

"Oh, let's not bring the bloody moonlight stones into this conversation, love."

"It is quite ironic, Niklaus, that you hold such anger toward me for my actions while you yourself gifted a moonlight stone to the very man who has likely put Hope's life in danger not once but… twice so far."

Something crashed into something else.

"Really? Seriously, _stop throwing things, Klaus._"

"Fine, if you want to talk about the stones, let's talk about the stones. Let's talk about how you just decided to use one of the only moonlight stones left in existence to make some pretty little bracelet for some pretty little girl. My brother, the idiot. I do hope you took the opportunity walking home last night to think about what you have done, Elijah; I thought the fresh air would do you some good, help you clear your mind a bit."

"This is not the issue, the witches are the issue."

"The _witches,_ Hayley, are not so dangerous as my traitorous brother."

"You say that, Niklaus and yet you came here this morning, on your own volition, wanting to discuss and plan and act: all of us, all together."

"Careful, Elijah; you err if you think I've even come close to forgiving you. Consider it mere familial privilege that I haven't already put you in a box for crossing me… and anyway, I have my lost stone back. No real harm done…except to your precious Leah."

She heard her name, the sound of moving furniture, clanking glass, pouring liquid.

They were either being really loud or she could hear much better than…than ever.

"Our first move should be to confirm this, check the sacristy for birth records."

"We don't need the bloody birth records, it's obvious—just look at her, Elijah."

"I still want to see the records."

"They don't exist, they've clearly been destroyed, someone obviously does not want us—or anyone—to know this girl's parentage."

"And who do you think is behind this…conspiracy…_Leah_?"

"Witches, vampires, wolves, it doesn't matter—I'll kill them all. I'll end them before they can even begin, Elijah; better to kill the cub than fear the lion."

"Careful, Niklaus, is that not what they said about your daughter?"

"It's hard to say anything when you're dead."

"Quiet, Niklaus."

"Why—do you have some useless diplomatic method you'd like to try first?"

"No, I mean, quiet. I think she's awake."

Leah didn't even have time to pretend she was asleep.

"Eavesdropping is a bad habit," Elijah opened from the doorway.

"I'm not eavesdropping," she corrected him, pulling herself into a sitting position. "You all are just talking really loud. Actually you're just yelling."

Elijah smiled, advancing into the room and approaching the bed.

"We are having a family meeting."

"That's an awfully nice word for an awfully lot of cursing and throwing things."

"Typical Monday, I assure you."

"I heard my name," she offered shyly.

"You certainly do seem to end up in the middle of these things, yes."

He sat beside her on the bed. He had put her in the guest room last night and she had slept straight through to the early afternoon, no doubt exhausted from her body healing itself.

Werewolf healing.

_Oof, what a night._

Oh boy, this was going to be a rough conversation.

"Oh no, serious vampire face Elijah, what I'd do now. Don't tell me y'all are arguing about the car. Trust me, no one is more upset about the car than I am."

He didn't know if she was joking or just didn't remember.

"Leah," he began, trying to get the words right. "What do you remember from last night?"

Leah pulled the covers up closer, snuggling into the plush pillows.

"Um…let me see. I went to the movies with Hope—"

"After that," he cut in.

"Yeah, okay let me think. I was driving Hope home and then…um….she was mad at me—"

"You told her? About us?"

"She guessed. She knew. I should have told her sooner, she was right to be angry with me."

"Shh," Elijah stroked her cheek, calming her. She was working herself up into a tizzy.

She was warm to the touch.

He spoke softly. "What happened next?"

Leah nodded her head, remembering.

"Yeah, um…I got pulled over and there were like three police cars, lights and everything. They told us to get out, both of us."

She had closed her eyes, trying to picture what happened next. Her memories were starting to get hazy, like when you suddenly wake and can't remember what you'd been dreaming mere moments ago.

"The cop…one of the cops…it was Hope's friend…I remember him, he was at the Christmas party…and there on Halloween, oh my god, he's was a werewolf, he's _the werewolf_, there were wolves…I ran over one of them…holy shit, I killed it…I killed it…"

Elijah took both her shoulders in his hands.

"Leah, Leah, look at me. Look at me."

She turned her eyes to him; they were red and puffy, like she'd been crying.

"You are okay. Hope is okay. But there is something I need to tell you."

Leah was antsy; she was hungry, _really hungry_, the last thing she'd had to eat was the popcorn at the theater. And she was hot, really hot, warm all over.

She pulled the blankets off her shoulders; the air was cool and refreshing against the thin material of her camisole.

She was jumping out of her skin, she was freaking the fuck out.

"Elijah, what's wrong with me?"

She massaged her wrists nervously, fidgeting, stopping suddenly.

"Where's my bracelet? Elijah, where is it? Don't tell me I lost it? Was it in the car?"

He frowned. Leah was reacting poorly to it all; once again he'd bungled it terribly. She had more questions than answers and it was overwhelming her exhausted body, her exhausted mind.

She needed answers.

He would have to tell her about her father, about the werewolf gene, about triggering it.

"Leah, shhhh…you are going to be okay, but you need to listen, closely and carefully. It's about your father."

"What about my father?" She barked, defensively. "Do you know something about my father?"

"And your mother...but one thing at a time."

"Elijah, do you know something about my mother? Is that what everyone is arguing about downstairs?"

"No, well, yes, but Leah listen-—"

"My mother is dead, Elijah."

"Yes, I know but—"

She was wringing her hands.

She was crawling out of her skin.

"Elijah, you have to tell me, _you have to tell me_, if you know something about my mother. What do you know, what do you know, what do you know?"

He had never seen Leah like this. Was something wrong? Was this something from the car crash, from the trauma of triggering the curse?

The curse.

That bracelet had protected her from the curse.

Somewhere in his subconscious, had he know all along? She had been wearing that bracelet in his dream, she had said he gave it to her, the car had crashed…

He was either inexplicably psychic, or someone was indeed messing with his mind, manipulating his dreams, influencing his actions…

Rebekah was right: they were all in trouble.

Leah had crawled out from beneath the duvet and was now perched on her knees before him on the bed.

She looked up at him with wild, feral eyes.

"Elijah, what are you hiding from me?"

He grabbed her hand and paused.

She was burning up.

This couldn't be normal. Even a fever didn't spread so fast.

"Hayley!"

A moment later and the hybrid stood in the doorway.

"Elijah?"

She strode into the room. The scene before her was baffling; Leah was tangled halfway in the sheets. She had dragged herself across the bed and was clinging to the front of Elijah's shirt; her face blushed, her forehead glowing with sweat.

She had to blink several times to get the image of Genevieve out of her head.

"Am I…interrupting something?"

"Something's wrong with Leah."

Hayley stood by the bedside, arms crossed, wondering what the hell was going on.

Leah was now screaming at Elijah.

"Elijah…do you know something about my mother? You have to tell me!"

Elijah addressed Hayley, trying to hold Leah still.

"She's burning up and she's become obsessed with knowing who her mother is."

"Whoa, okay, one thing at a time, Elijah."

Hayley placed a hand on Leah's forehead.

"Jeez, you're right, she's on fire."

Hayley shook out her hand, finding some space to also sit down on the bed.

She needed to check something.

"Hey, Leah? Can you look at me for a second?"

Leah was still clinging to Elijah, but she turned at the sound of her voice.

She eyes glared gold at Hayley.

"Well, there we go," She concluded.

"Is she sick?" He asked.

"Nope, she's just a werewolf. It happens sometimes…it's probably just pent up, left over energy from last night. She didn't turn because of the moonlight stone, but then Klaus took away her moonlight bracelet, so that probably screwed up everything. And on top of all that, she just triggered the gene last night—her body's definitely shot."

"Can you help her?"

"With the first problem, sure, we don't need to do anything, trust me, she'll burn out in about five minutes then clunk out for the rest of the night. But, Elijah, you gotta tell her about her mother, she deserves answers."

"_Tell me, Elijah,_" she was begging him now.

"Don't you think it's too much for her, all of this, now?"

Hayley stood back up.

"It'll only be a hell of a lot worse if you wait. I'm going to get a washcloth and some ice, try to bring down her temperature."

She left them alone.

He knew she didn't want to be here for this.

He wished he didn't have to be either.

"Elijah," she gasped, half-delirious.

He pulled her in close so she was leaning again his chest.

She was burning up. He doubted if she would even remember anything through this fever dream tomorrow.

"Leah, listen."

"Hmmmhm."

"Your mother…her name was Genevieve Levesque."

"My mother?"

She looked up with raw eyes.

That name was so familiar.

"Your mother," he regretted this already. He took it slow, like reading a bedtime story to a small child, "kidnapped Hope the day she was born."

"No, please stop…"

She _did _know this story.

Ms. Claire had told the older kids the history of the witches in the Quarter.

Her history.

She knew this story.

She just hadn't known it was _her story_.

He held her closer to him.

"She was doing it for the witches, they thought it would help. They were doing it for their families, and their children…they thought it was the right thing to do."

His shirt grew damp; she was crying.

He hated himself sometimes.

"Klaus," he kept going, "was very mad at your mother for taking Hope. And Hayley was very mad, because Hope was her daughter, you understand that, right Leah?"

He didn't expect her to answer; he stroked her damp hair, he hugged her flushed shoulders.

He wanted to do more, but he didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep.

Hayley had returned, but stood silently in the door, listening.

Elijah was too occupied to know she was there.

"A year later, they found her."

_We found her_, was how the whole story went.

There were several chapters he was skipping over.

Chapters Klaus had written. Chapters Hayley had written.

The chapter he wrote.

"Your mother was killed, in the fighting. We didn't know she had a child, you must have gone to St. Ann's after that. You are her daughter, Leah. I'm very sorry, Leah. _I'm so very sorry."_

When she didn't say a word, he lifted her chin.

She was out; the sweat was cold on her brow.

Elijah kept her close; kissed the top of her head.

Leaving the threshold, Hayley moved into the room and placed the bowl of ice water on the night table, a washcloth hanging from her hand.

She stayed mum as Elijah tucked Leah back in, gently returning her head to the pillow.

"Let her sleep it off, her fever will go down on its own."

"Thank you, Hayley."

"Don't thank me, I did nothing—her body's doing all the hard work. She should be better by the morning, trust me, once the moon phases."

They gave her some peace; they spoke now in the hallway.

"She'll need someone to teach her all these…werewolf things."

"It's not me, Elijah. She's not my daughter and she's not my pack. And she—she's just—she's _her _daughter, and you understand, you know why, I will never be able to see past that. I'm sorry, Elijah. You are better off begging Klaus for that bracelet back."

"Perhaps," was all he said.

"What are you going to do…with her?"

"Take her home."

"Home?"

"Back to campus."

"Elijah, Klaus isn't going to let her just walk out of here; he thinks that Faction of yours is up to something and the witches want Leah to lead them. There's no way he's letting her out of his sight."

Elijah crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe.

"And what do you think, Hayley, you do think about the things you say, correct? I hope you do, I hope you think long and hard because your… _opinions_… have just ruined a girl's life, that girl…in there, who has done nothing but been a good friend to your daughter. So you should be very, very, certain that you are willing to stand behind your words, because I sure as hell will, and I promised that girl she would be safe, and I will keep her safe, even against Niklaus...and even against you."

Elijah pulled himself from the wall and began to make his way downstairs with long determined strides.

Hayley called after him.

"What are you going to do, Elijah?"

"What I do best, apparently: diplomacy. I'm going to offer Niklaus a deal."

**AN: Hehe, your reviews and theories are making me squirm with anticipation for the upcoming chapters! **


	23. Story of My Life

**AN: Half of you think Klaus is a fool; half of you, Elijah! I love it! It's true, both the boys are idiots!**

Hope ran down the stairs, still in yesterday's clothes. Her father had woken her already, much earlier this morning, to ask a million questions until her mom had dragged him away and told him to let her sleep.

She did.

She had slept most of the day; when she awoke about 1pm, no one was home. The house was quiet, all the cars gone from the driveway, even her own. After making herself a bowl of cereal (and then realizing she was starving and eating the entire box), she took a shower, changed into pajamas, washed the dishes… but her parents were still not home.

Feeling majorly guilty about her argument with Leah, she wanted to call and apologize. But after searching for her phone for several minutes, she finally remembered she had taken it out just before…

The crash.

It all came rushing back.

_How had she forgotten last night?_

Klaus has been more concerned about Pablo and the police and the wolves. He hadn't even asked about Leah or the accident...and worse…she herself had forgotten until right now.

Leah.

Oh god, where was Leah?

The car, it was totaled. It had flipped; Leah was driving…

Was that were everyone was? Had something happened?

_Where the hell was her phone?_

_Oh._

It was probably still in the car.

_Leah's_ car.

Goddamn, that had been such a dumb argument.

She didn't have much time to beat herself up about it because just then the front door burst open.

She was ready for them.

"_Where_ have you guys been?"

"Ah, Hope, glad you are up and about."

"Where's Leah?"

"Typical," Klaus snipped, immediately heading toward the drink bar in the sitting room.

Hayley hung back to envelope Hope in her arms.

"Mom, where's Leah?"

"She's okay, she's fine, from the wreck at least. She came down with something this morning though; Elijah drove her back to campus. Nothing to worry about, probably just the flu."

"Just the flu? Want to try that again?"

Hayley broke the hug, holding her daughter at arm's length.

"Excuse me, Hope Mikaelson, what did you say?"

Screw filial piety; if she backed off, she would never get any answers.

"I said, want to try stop treating me like I'm 12 and not old enough to know things?"

Hayley dropped her arms in resignation.

"You're too smart for your own good most of the time."

"Same."

They both moved into the kitchen. Klaus joined them, handing Hayley a glass of amber liquid.

"So," Hope jumped up onto one of the kitchen stools, "What has both of my parents drinking at…2:30 in the evening."

"Oh, don't be fooled, little miss, we've been drinking since 11."

"You were at the Compound?"

"Yes, _Hope_, we were at your uncle's—emergency family meeting—part 2."

"Did you see Leah?"

He ignored her question entirely and replaced it with his own.

"Did your aunt Rebekah call?"

"I don't know, I don't have my phone," Hope pointed out, annoyed at her father's deflection.

"Ah, well, that's for the best. We're getting you a new phone, you're changing your number."

Hope slapped both her hands on the table.

"What."

"And for the time being, your car will stay at the Compound and I'll hold onto your keys."

"What?"

Klaus wasn't done.

"And you are dropping out of that plebeian institution. If you truly want to continue…_learning things_…you can apply someplace else in the fall, maybe the Sorbonne in Paris. They have an excellent Art History program. It will be perfect; you can stay with your aunt."

Hope seriously thought she was still dreaming.

"Can we back up and maybe _talk_ about this, dad? Is this about last night? Because you know that wasn't my fault."

She hoped her parents realized it wasn't Leah's fault either.

Her mom was pulling mayonnaise and a tomato from the fridge. It joined the bread already waiting on the cutting board.

"Have you eaten anything all day, Hope? I'm going to make you a sandwich."

"I don't want a fucking sandwich, mom. I want to know what the hell is going on!"

"Language, Hope," Klaus growled, returning with the entire decanter of bourbon. "Don't talk to your mother like that."

"I'm not talking to anyone, you're just telling me things and assuming I'll just do them."

Klaus stared her down across the kitchen island.

"Fine, then allow me to continue telling you things, Hope. You will not contact Leah, you will not go near Leah, you will drop out of school, you will remain in this house, and maybe when you've learnt to stop running around with werewolves and witches and whatever else that campus breeds, then maybe…maybe, we will reassess you going back to school."

She looked to her mother for sympathy but got nothing; she wasn't agreeing with what he said, but she wasn't disagreeing either.

She was still making that fucking sandwich.

"Mom? Are you_ listening_ to this?"

Hayley plopped the plate in front of her.

"Don't need to, I've already heard it. In fact, he's just the messenger. Now, eat."

"No."

Hayley looked at Klaus for help.

"This is your fault, you know, that damn stubborn Mikaelson gene."

He just shrugged, toasting her with his glass.

"Oh no, sweetheart, that is at least half, if not more, all you."

He motioned to Hope with a wink at Hayley.

_Oh gross,_ it was bad enough her parents were treating her like she was a child, now they were _flirting_ over a fucking sandwich.

"I hate you both," she confessed.

"Teenagers, so dramatic," Klaus noted amused.

"_I'm 23!"_ Hope found herself yelling across the table.

Klaus' temper instantly blazed; he leaned across the island, gesturing dramatically for effect.

"You may be 23, but let me tell you, Hope, that you are a child, a _child,_ because 23 years is a blip…a mere fraction of a portion of the time I have been on this earth, so let me tell you, _let me tell you, _that I have learned the hard way that the only people you can trust in this world are you family…and you can't even trust them half the time. You are a child, but you are _my child, _you are Hayley's child, and we will _not let anything happen to you._ And if that means locking you up in an ivory tower, then I will do that. And if that means you will do what I say and have no more contact with that Leah girl, _then you will do that. Are we clear?"_

Hope held her ground and matched her father's resolve.

"_What did you do to Leah_?"

Klaus backed off, throwing his hands up in utter abdication.

"Why does she always assume I've kill her friends?"

Hayley merely shrugged, halfway through her own sandwich.

"You have to admit, it's a good first guess."

Klaus rounded on Hope again, only slightly less cross.

"I'll have you know that when I learned Leah was Genevieve's daughter, I did have an overwhelming urge to snap her spine in half…"

"What?! Leah is Genevieve's da—"

"…but Hayley here talked me off that ledge; apparently I was not considering how you, dearest daughter, would react to my actions; that sentimental trait, you get that from your uncle. A tender suggestion on your mother's behalf, I may add, one clearly influenced by your _manipulation _of the sire bond…"

Hope shut up. She was in a pretty big hole already; she didn't need to keep digging.

Klaus, unsurprisingly, was not done.

"…and so you should actually be grateful that I have decided to simply pull you out of school and not kill your friend. Actually, you should thank you uncle Elijah; he made a very tempting offer for Leah's safety and since I, unexpectedly, found myself in a generous, forgiving mood, I accepted his offer."

Hope crossed her arms, the perfect picture of a petulant princess.

Except she had a million reasons to be royally pissed.

"Are you gonna tell me what this deal is?"

"No."

"Okay, how about Pablo? Please tell me you didn't kill him?"

"Not…yet."

"Dad! He's my friend…or he was my friend…Antonia had invited me to their wedding…"

"Ah, perfect, another example of the exemplar citizens you call friends-the daughter of the witch who tried to kill you as a mere infant... and a traitorous werewolf."

"Are you really going to blame Leah for her mother?"

"Yes!"

"Mom!"

Hayley agreed with Klaus on this one.

"That woman was a monster," she growled, "You cannot even begin to imagine what she put this family through."

Hope looked desperately between her parents, her sandwich long forgotten between them.

She was only hungry for answers.

"I don't understand! What did she do, dad, tell me, I'm old enough to know, you have to tell me."

Klaus poured himself another drink. His words came out as snarls.

"Fine, you want to know what Leah's mother did—_let me tell you."_

/

It was April 15, a year to the day when this war began, the Mikaelsons versus anyone who had every threatened this city. They had sent Hope away and had stayed to clean up the mess.

It was an awful big mess, they soon learned.

"_They shall have wars and pay for their presumption."_

While Elijah had tried to tame the city through treaties and negotiations, Klaus was less patient,

and Hayley wanted blood.

Witch blood.

Genevieve had been their primary target from the start, but she was the type of commander to stay behind ranks and bide her time until the final battle.

"_Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."_

Klaus had taught her that.

So while Gen prepared the final move, she had an army to keep the Mikaelsons occupied and distracted: Guerrera wolves and renegade witches and the power of all the witch ancestors.

Including their mother.

She had been impossible to find, hidden by spells and enchantments, working behind lines for months and months and months.

_Patience,_ Elijah had told them, _she will make a mistake sooner or later._

And she did; she had showed her hand.

Klaus had the wolf by the throat.

"Let him go."

"You first, sweetheart."

Elijah was holding back Hayley, his hands around her tightly as she struggled to break free. It was not an easy task, even for the Original; Hayley's new hybrid strength was unstoppable, her rage fueled at the mere sight of the witch.

The witch who had tried to kill her baby.

Klaus tightened his grip and the werewolf howled in pain. He wasn't one to play games, but this was different. This was an awfully unfortunate situation.

Genevieve had Camille by the hair.

"Note to self, kill them right the first time."

"Please, like I would go anywhere without a protection spell. Celeste taught me that. She also taught me that in order to get through to a Mikaelson, you have to hit close to the heart."

Gen held up the knife; the brave bartender was screaming.

_People respond best to displays of violence_, Klaus had taught her that too.

It was all coming back to bite him in the ass.

"Klaus, _please_."

"Yeah, Nik, please. It's rude to leave a lady waiting—make your move."

"My brother is the diplomatic one. I am not," the hybrid sneered.

Elijah whispered in Hayley's ear. He was going to make a move, sneak up behind her while Klaus kept her focus - that had been the plan all along. He dropped his hands from her shoulders slowly, testing to see if she would make a break for it, go after Gen herself.

She dug her nails into her palms until they bled; he knew she would not move.

Elijah acted, just not fast enough. Genevieve slid the knife across Cami's throat—it all happened very fast and it was very, very messy.

By the time Elijah reached Cami, Gen had disappeared, blinked out of existence.

Everything was possible with the ancestors against them.

Klaus thrust the wolf aside in his haste to reach Camille.

Hayley was screaming herself hoarse.

Whether it was Camille, or the frustration of losing _this one opportunity_ to kill Gen,

or perhaps it was finally just all too much.

She was flipping the fuck out.

And with it her humanity switch.

/

Elijah compelled his way past the desk guard and carried Leah up to her room. Coming to her door, he set her steadily on her feet and leaned her against the wall.

"Are you okay to stand, I need to open your door."

She mumbled a _yes_, throwing a hand across her flushed cheek. She was still warm, but the fever had broken in the late evening.

As per his deal with his brother, he brought her back to campus before midnight.

Once the door was opened, he threw her keys on her desk and maneuvered her into the bed and under the covers. Sitting perpendicular to her on the bed, he brushed the hair away from her face.

"How do you feel?"

"Like a car landed on me."

She was joking. She was okay.

She would be okay.

"I have to go, Leah."

"Don't," she whined sleepily.

"I have to, but you're going to be okay. Do you hear me?"

He had to do this. It was the deal he had made with Niklaus.

He hated himself sometimes, more and more it seemed.

"Leah, hey, shh, Leah look at me."

He cupped her face with his hand. She stared up at him with bright, clear eyes.

She would always look like Leah to him.

_Just Leah._

"I have to go, but I want you to listen to me carefully, okay."

"Okay." She didn't fuss.

"I need you to forget about Hayley Marshall, and Klaus Mikaelson, you do not know who they are and you never met them."

He was compelling her.

"I need you to forget about Hope, she's just another girl in your year, in your classes. I need you to forget that you know anything about witches or vampires or werewolves. I need you to forget about your mother and everything I told you about Genevieve."

This was harder then he thought it would be.

"You will not return to Holy Cross House and you will end all communication with Davina Claire. You will forget everyone you met at the Faction Christmas Party."

She stared at him obediently with wide eyes.

His own eyes were cloudy with tears.

"And Leah, I need you to know I am doing this to protect you. I need you…"

This was impossible.

How did he ever think he could do this?

He had to do this.

"…I need you to know that I love you…very, very much…and that I am so sorry you have found yourself in the middle of things that are beyond your control. I never wanted this for you…"

She accepted his words without protest and it broke his heart.

"…but, Leah, lovely, lovely, Leah, I need you to forget about me too. You never met me, you have never heard of me, you are just a girl in college, it's your senior year, and you are going to graduate and go on to do amazing things."

"I am going to do amazing things," she repeated, smiling.

He wiped the tear she didn't know she had cried from her cheek, then he let go.

"Goodnight, Leah. Sleep well."

She blinked, and he was gone.

**AN: I'm not crying, it's just raining on my face. :(**


	24. Come Away to the Water

He never knocked when he visited her office, which was rarely; he hated this church and everything connected to it.

"Marcel."

"Hey, Little D."

He grabbed her into a side hug and kissed the side of her head before moving around to the other side of the desk.

"How long are you going to keep calling me that?"

"Until you're not little anymore," he joked.

She smiled brightly, fiddling with the hem of her cardigan.

Davina motioned for him to sit; Marcel slumped down in the armchair.

"Thanks for chaperoning the kids to the Jazz festival."

"Not at all, my pleasure, you know, some of your boys are real smooth, D. You need to get some instruments in their hands-there's some real talent there."

"Sure, as soon as the Parish scraps together some money, I am sure the first thing they will invest in are some trumpets for a bunch of orphan kids."

"I'll bring it up at the next Faction meeting, start a drive or something for the funds-those Guerrera wolves have more money than God."

"Speaking of God, I thought you hated this church, though I see you made an exception for me today."

"You said it was an emergency, you call, I come. So what's up?"

"I think Antonia's gone rouge."

Marcel considered her words, picking up the photo frame before him in the meantime.

"I thought you said you had a hand on the witches."

"I did...I mean I do...but I did not okay that hex on the girl at Christmas. That wasn't the plan."

Marcel replaced the frame on the desk, now picking up a glass apple-shaped paperweight that had been holding down a stack of manila folders.

"You said you wanted to force Hope's hand, make her use magic, strengthen the sire bond. You got what you wanted."

"Leah almost died."

He laughed, juggling the apple between open palms.

"I thought that was the point of all this, baby girl."

Davina stared him down.

"Not _yet._"

"Uh-huh."

"And she'll come back. You know how this works."

"Uh-huh, I hear you."

"Marcel, I'm serious, there is an order to this and people can't be messing it up."

"And you think Antonia's tryna sabotage us? D, that girl can sing, but she doesn't have too much else going for her."

"I don't know, maybe she's getting second thoughts. You said Klaus gave Pablo a moonlight stone, maybe both of them have had a change of heart."

The apple almost slipped between his fingers.

"If you break that, I will kill you."

He chuckled, setting the paperweight back on the table.

"Oh, I believe it."

They sat in silence for a while.

"It's going to be mighty hard to get Leah away from those Mikaelsons. Klaus even confirmed that Leah has been shacking up with the eldest one."

Davina wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Elijah? Ugh, he's such a creeper. He like...preys on little lost girls."

Marcel raised an eyebrow at that, but let it go.

"Leah is far from little or lost, D. Someone's got baby bird syndrome-you gotta let them fly away someday."

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," she warned.

He dropped the topic and picked up another.

"Whaddya need from me, just ask-I'm your man."

"I have the vials from Hayley and Hope."

"Hayley got Elijah to revoke the clause?"

"Unlikely...I'm pretty sure she just forged his signature. It doesn't matter, it won't matter when this is all over. There'll be no stupid treaty anymore."

"You talk a big game, Little D, but you sure you can pull this off?"

"Like I said: I've got the vials, I've got something of Gen's, Pablo got Leah to trigger her curse..."

"Is he still sore? He was tearing up the bars the other night, had to get my Nightwalkers to shut him and his boys down before Elijah caught wind of all the broke glass and terrified tourists."

"Don't be insensitive, his brother _died_. It wasn't supposed to be one of his brothers - that's why we bought in the humans—Klaus is _mad _and Pablo's gone underground, Antonia too. Marcel, we need to be more careful moving forward."

"Okay, so what else we need to get this party started?"

"A full moon."

"Witches," he pulled out his phone to check the time, "you and your full moon spells."

"It works, and we need all the help we can get with this one. We only get one shot, Marcel, and if any of them, especially Elijah, even gets a sniff of this before it's time, we are all dead."

"I hear that once a year, D, it don't scare me."

"Marcel..."

He started to rise from his chair.

"I hear you, I hear you. Look. As long as that disillusionment spell you cast is still good, they won't know what's coming."

"You don't have to worry. As long as she returns here once a year the spell remains; In fact, I just recast it before New Years, it should be good. Anyone who sees her will be immediately affected; whatever their mind tells them, they won't be able to listen."

"I ever tell you you're a genius, Little D?"

"Among other things," she slyly suggested.

Marcel rose from his chair.

"Look, sorry to dash, but I gotta run, Davina. Mardi Gras, baby girl, game night for my Nightwalkers, gotta set up the Abattoir: happy tourists, happier vampires. And it's a biiiiig night for the wolves too, D, when folks are happy, they spend money."

"Such a businessman," Davina smirked.

"What can I say? Gotta work hard to make an honest woman outta you."

"Hmhmm," she hummed, "Go, get out, I've got paperwork to do."

He laughed his way down the hall and out the front door.

/

Hope plopped down in the chair opposite Elijah.

"What do you always write in there?"

He closed his journal, wrapping it up in its leather thong and setting it gently on the desktop.

"Thoughts; if I have too many of them, it's useful to put them somewhere I cannot lose them."

"Uh-huh," she said uninterested, even though she has asked the question. "Do you write your secrets in there?"

Elijah sat back in his chair.

"You know you are as transparent as your mother sometimes."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged. "Then what am I thinking about right now?"

"Leah."

"Bingo. Leah."

"Let's not talk about this right now."

"Why not?"

"Your father's in the house."

She kicked off her shoes and swung her feet up onto his fancy mahogany desk.

He hated when she did that.

She knew he hated it.

"Ok, then, how about we talk about this: Mom told me the story, about Leah's mother-you...you, really killed all those witches?"

Hope was her mother's daughter through and through.

"You heard the story."

"On Monday, but now I'm asking you, because I want to hear it from you."

"If you ask, I won't keep anything from you."

"And...Leah? Does _Leah_ know, because she really needs to hear this story too, especially if you two are gonna keep…dating."

"I see you two finally talked."

"Are you going to tell her?"

He ignored her question entirely and replaced it with his own.

"You haven't seen her recently, have you?"

Ugh, Elijah and her dad were so similar sometimes.

She uncrossed and re-crossed her legs just to annoy him even more.

"No, I'm not in her classes anymore. I'm not in _any_ classes anymore."

'It's for the better."

Both feet slipped over the table's edge and landed with a _thud_ on the floor.

"Elijah! That's not how it works. When dad's being an unrelenting jerk, I'm supposed to be able to come to you, and you're supposed to go and talk to him and make him change his mind – that's how it's always been. You're not supposed to agree with him! You are always supposed to be on my side! _That is what uncles are for._"

"Hope, such tantrums are unbecoming at your age."

She was pouting and she didn't even care.

"Okay, fine you said if I asked, you'd answer—so answer. _Tell me_ about the witches."

He shot off some pre-prepared generic bullshit answer.

"There's nothing really to tell: your mother was going after Genevieve and Genevieve was hiding behind the witches."

No way that shit answer was gonna fly; she slapped her hand on the desk to let him know just that.

"Nope, long version. I don't want your two cents, give me the whole damn dollar, Elijah..._please, _don't be like mom and dad, give me some credit."

He relented because age was just a number and she was right.

Pity the fool who underestimated Hope Mikaelson.

"Genevieve had plans to use residual Harvest magic—"

"_The_ Harvest?"

"You know it?"

"Well yeah, that's how everyone knows Davina, right? Sorry, keep going."

"Well after the Harvest, comes the Reaping. It was Davina who figured out her plan: Genevieve was counting on the fact that your mother would stop at nothing to…to end her. If your mother killed Genevieve, then the fourth Harvest girl would awaken, that's how the Reaping worked: you can hijack the Harvest magic, but a river always runs downhill, Hope. Through Davina, we discovered that our mother dearest-your grandmother Esther-was planning to come back in the body of the fourth Harvest girl."

"Whoa."

"Yes, 'whoa', Hope. We needed to wait, to not kill Genevieve until we could be _sure_ that the Reaping and the Harvest magic would end with her. We had a witch to help us, Davina, but your mother wouldn't wait, couldn't wait...she was...not herself at the time."

"Her humanity was off."

"She told you everything I see."

"I still need to hear it from you."

So he continued.

"The most efficient way to interrupt the Reaping indefinitely was to cause a massive disruption in the witches' magic; since the witches of the Quarter practice ancestral magic, to break their magic, break their bloodlines."

"So you wiped out the Deveraux bloodline?"

"Every practicing witch in the bloodline of every Harvest girl within a 300 mile radius of the Quarter. Every family line, including Davina's."

"And _you_ did this."

"I did this," he finally admitted out loud.

To say Hope was appalled was a horrifying understatement.

"And she _forgave you_ for that?"

"No, and I doubt she ever will."

"You are a piece of work, Elijah"

"I've been told, on several occasions."

"You wiped out _four entire bloodlines_."

"I assure you, I took no pleasure in my task."

"You killed all those witches-_entire families_."

"I did it to save _this_ family."

She threw up her hands, twisting in her chair.

"Oh, no, don't involve me in this. I didn't ask for you to do any of this."

"Hope-"

"No, Elijah, no."

"Hope, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not, you're not sorry, you're just sorry you have to tell it to my face. Don't apologize for things you aren't sorry for and don't apologize to me-apologize to Leah, because of you, and mom, and dad, she had to grow up in that orphanage - _she and all those other children_. Mom and dad, they wanted their kid to be safe, so they took away all those parents from their kids-kids, like me, Elijah!"

"Hope, it was necessary to make the city safe, for you."

"I _was _safe. I was with Rebekah and I was safe. I had everything I could ever want: I had a home. I had a family. I had someone who loved me, and _I was alive."_

Elijah said a silent prayer that Hayley wasn't home; he winced, as if she was still listening, wherever she was.

"Don't let your mother hear you, Hope, you will break her heart."

"What about your heart, Elijah? Do you ever listen to it, or do you just do whatever my father tells you to do? Fear is not power; _family is power._ You broke the witches power by breaking up those families. Now, I know dad still thinks I'm his little girl, and I _will _always be his little girl, but from where I'm standing, you're the ones who are acting like children, except when you have a tantrum, you destroy this city and you destroy people's lives."

She yanked her shoes back on, standing up.

"Tell my dad that the world does not revolve around him. I'm not sure he knows."

"Hope-"

"Nope, stop, I'm done."

She stuck out her hands, palm up.

"Give me your keys."

"What?"

"To the Escalade. Give me the keys, because I am going back to campus _if I have to walk there._ If you're not going to stand up for me, then I'll just have to stand up for myself. Give me the keys, I am going to campus, I am going to meet with my professors and pick up my assignments, because yes, I'm still enrolled, despite what dad says. I may not be able to attend classes but I _will graduate_ on time - tell my dad that too."

She extended her hand further, standing there, waiting.

But only for a second.

Elijah pulled out the top drawer and dropped the keys in her hand.

"I'm still on your side, Hope. I will always be on your side."

Her frown relaxed, if just a little.

"Cover for me until I get back."

She raced out of the study, pausing only at the door.

"And, Elijah, you need to tell Leah, find her and tell her. If you really, really care for her, don't leave her in the dark. Everyone deserves the truth."

She left before his face could betray that he didn't quite agree.


	25. The Listening

March madness was in the air and spring break started as soon as her shift ended.

It was 3:40pm. Twenty more minutes. 2 sets of ten, 4 sets of five.

It was basically 4 already.

And of course someone had to stop by now.

"Can I help you?"

"Is this the Alumni Development Office?"

"Actually, we've merged with Grants and Giving now, but yeah."

"Excellent."

He came into the office and sat down in the chair across from her. He was smartly dressed, like he had just walked over from the business school.

"Are you an alum?"

"No, a parent of a current student."

Rich kids and their rich dads.

No matter the violation - plagiarism, underage drinking, streaking during a football game - there was always an amount of money that could wipe it clean from their student record.

She had seen her fair share of rich dads working with Grants and Giving.

Though, she had to be honest, the man sitting before her was definitely the hottest dad she'd seen walk through those doors in four years.

"Oh nice, what year?"

"She's a senior."

"Me too!"

She pulled a logo pen from a school mug filled with fifty more logo pens.

She doubled clicked the end before handing it to him.

He grazed her hand as he took the pen from her.

Okay…

"So, how can I help you today?"

He was smiling kind of strangely at her—did she have something in her teeth?

"Well, this is the office of giving and I would like to give."

"You want to make a donation to the school? Okay."

She swung around in her chair, pulling a form from a file cabinet to her right.

She slapped it on the desk between them, pointing to the pen in his hand.

"It's for the form, can you fill it out starting from the top?"

He was staring at her and not at the form.

She pointed more forcefully at the information box.

"Um, can you fill this out first. Basic info, and signature here…and here."

He smiled at her again, and finally began to fill out the form. Turning away, she shook her mouse to wake up her computer. She knew he had stopped writing and was staring again at her when she didn't hear the scribbling anymore.

_Dude's a creep._

"Do you like it here?" He asked, continuing to fill out the form.

"Here, in this office?"

"At this school."

She laughed nervously at his odd question.

"Well, I mean, four years and I haven't transferred."

She brought up the intake form on her computer.

"Where would you like your donation to go? You can choose a specific department, an office, fellowships and scholarships or general fund."

"Fellowships and scholarships, please."

He signed with a flourish and handed her the form with a disarming grin.

_Stop smiling at me you creep. I'm the same age as your daughter!_

"Do you like working here? You look very happy."

Was he hitting on her?

He had pocketed her pen.

"I guess? I do this as my work study."

Leah began to type away, entering his answers into the boxes on the screen.

"Almost there, I need you to specify further: research fellowships, merit scholarships, recruitment fund, athletic scholarships or need-based scholarships?"

"Need-based, please."

She clicked a box and turned back to her client.

"Credit or check?"

"Check."

He pulled it from his breast pocket, offering the folded slip to her.

She turned back to her computer to enter the numbers and slowly unfolded the check.

The noise that came out of her mouth was unhuman.

_Well that explains the fancy ass suit._

"_All_ of this? For need-based scholarships?"

"A worthy cause, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning you—it's just—"

_That's a lot of fucking zeros._

"— You are about to make a lot of incoming freshmen extremely happy."

He leaned back in his chair.

"My pleasure."

Okay.

He _was _hitting on her.

Rich, hot dad was hitting on her at 4 in the afternoon.

_I'll put that in my 'win' column for today._

"And can I put down that your donation is on behalf of someone?"

"Please, my daughter, Hope."

"Same last name?"

"Same last name."

She wondered what Hope Mikaelson must have done to get her dad to endow the school with enough money to fund a new dorm _and _science center.

Murder, probably.

She finished entering the data and took the form from the table, adding her own initials.

"Well, that's it, Mr…" she glanced down at the form to find his name again, "Mr. Mikaelson. My boss will get in contact with you once I run this paperwork through the system. They'll definitely want to talk to you in the President's Office. Maybe give you a plaque or something, or one of those commemorative bricks."

"I can't wait," he beamed.

Mr. Mikaelson didn't get up.

_Why was he still here?_

He just sat there, staring at her, this dumb half-smile on this face.

Maybe he didn't realize he could leave?

"Well, you're done, that's it unless there's anything else I can help you with, Mr. Mikaelson?"

_Don't ask for my number, don't ask for my number._

"Do you have plans for after you graduate?"

_Don't ask that either._

"I don't know. Maybe I'll teach English in China, I always wanted to see the Great Wall."

_Of course, that was his Leah._

He stood to go, tucking in his jacket.

"And your name? In case, I need to contact this office again?"

_Uh-huh, sure._

She handed him her office card.

He flipped it between his fingers.

"Well then, Miss St. Ann, an early congratulations on finishing your last year. Whatever you choose to do afterward, I am sure you will go on to do amazing things."

Leah had to smile at that.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I know I will."

/

Across campus, Hope was scheming. She waited at the Grind, nervously tapping her foot against the table leg. He touched her shoulder momentarily as he pulled up a chair.

"Hey, Princess."

"Thanks for meeting me, Aidan."

"Ha, you still know my name, nice, hey, I thought you were grounded."

"_House arrest_, there's a difference. And how do you even know about that?"

"Things move fast through the Faction grapevine; so you gonna tell me how you're here if you're under 'house arrest.'"

He used air quotes and everything.

"I'm technically here with my uncle. He's…uh, my excuse to leave the house, let's say."

"So the 'rents pulled you out of classes and everything?"

"Don't remind me."

"No school—hah, sounds like a trip."

He dropped the jokes when he saw her face.

"Whoa, frowny-face, okay, what's up? Why'd you want to meet?"

She stared into her coffee like a diviner's tea, hands wrapped around one of those fancy lattes with a foamy heart design.

It had long since gone cold.

"Aidan, what do you know about the stuff that happened twenty years ago?"

He waved at the barista who nodded back.

He turned back to Hope.

"You telling me you don't know your own history?"

"I know about the vampires and I know about the witches...now I need to know about the werewolves."

"What's got you on the hunt for info, Nancy Drew?"

"My parents and Elijah are extremely biased sources."

"Ah, Hope Mikaelson, pretty and smart. Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Your dad's been in the Faction since its reformation. Let's start there."

Aidan leaned backed in his chair, folding his arms behind his sunny blond head.

"Your uncle's a noble man, that's what my father always says, though, if I can, I think he's the only one who does. But, I mean, talk about biased, my dad owes old man Mikaelson big time, I'm talking his life. He was born into the Crescent clan...like was a wolf for most of his life and everything…but he found himself on the losing side of the war, let's say. Fell in with the witches after your mother turned into a hybrid..."

He leaned in across the table, as if someone might overhear, even in the noisy coffeehouse.

"Even though your mom's a Labonair, some of the wolves didn't want to be ruled by a hybrid. There was a schism…like a big division...in the pack, people kind of taking sides, some of them backing the witches. We aren't...proud of it, damn I even feel crap telling you this now."

"Get over it and keep going. Your dad made it out alive?"

She finally took a sip from her latte.

"Obviously or I wouldn't be here, right? Though putting the Quarter and the City back together was a little like Humpty-Dumpty - not impossible - but it took a lot of horses, a lot of men, and nearly ten years. Like I said, Elijah's a noble man, he pardoned my father and put him on the Faction when everything finally blew over."

The waiter dropped off his coffee—his usual order, skim no sugar—and received a high-five in return for his efforts.

_Boys._

Hope snapped her fingers at him.

"Hey, focus, keep talking…Elijah pardoned your family?"

"Politics, Hope."

"I know about politics, I took Government 201 _and_ 305."

"Then you know how fragile everything is after winner takes all. Big changes after the war, all around: Vampires banished across the River, them Guerreras from Texas kicking out their Italian cousins, witches, the very few still left, reduced to nothing but tour guides and shop keepers, and Elijah in charge of it all."

"And people died?"

He lowered his cup.

"Yeah, people died, what does—"

"So are there, like, death certificates?"

"I…guess?"

"Then tell me about them…for like the witches and the werewolves: Where are they? Can anyone just go through them?"

Aidan looked around to make sure he wasn't being pranked.

"Uh…well…records for supernatural folks are kept in the sacristy of St. Ann's, at least the older stuff and the witch records after the war. Other stuff's spread out; some of the boxes were moved to my house a couple years back."

"So your dad has all the records?"

_Girl was on a mission_, Aidan had to grin.

"For the Crescents, yeah, why?"

"Aidan, please, listen, I need you to get into those files and find something for me-birth records."

"Are we…still Nancy Drew or have we moved onto James Bond?"

"Just do it," she snapped loudly.

The Grind got really quiet for a second before the conversations resumed.

Aidan leaned in over the table even more.

"Okay, okay, joking, just joking, of course I'll see what I can do, but there are lots and lots of boxes, can you narrow it down for me?"

"Like what?"

"Well, got a birthday?"

"Yes, but I'm pretty sure it's not her actual birthday."

"Okay…what's her name?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's not her actual name…"

"Hope, you gotta give me something, I'm going in blind."

"Okay, sorry, I know…try Leah, that's her name. St. Ann is her Parish name, her real last name could be anything."

"But you know at least one parent was a werewolf?"

"Yeah, her father."

"And you know he was from the Crescent clan?"

"….No."

"_Hope."_

"I know, I know, shot in the dark, needle in a haystack, yadda yadda, but _please,_ just see what you can find for me?"

He was smiling mischievously again, bringing his cup to his lips in a slow swoop.

"Okay, but only because you ask so nicely."

She chuckled.

"Only because I ask you at all, get real, like someone who's been following me around all year isn't eager as hell to get on my good side."

He set his cup down in the saucer.

"You know that was your dad's orders, right? I wasn't just like, being a creepy stalker."

"And at the Faction Christmas Party?"

"Oh, that was different, I was _trying _to ask you for a dance."

She had a hard time hiding her growing grin, so she hid her smile in her coffee mug.

"I was busy all night."

"You don't have to tell me, Princess Mikaelson has to see to her royal duties."

"You don't have to call me that, you know."

"I know."

"You're just doing this to be annoying, right?"

"Yes." He set down a ten dollar bill, paying for both of them.

For some reason, that completely threw her; she didn't even realize he was standing, zipping up his fleece and pushing in his chair.

"Enjoy the rest of your day, Hope Mikaelson. And don't worry, I'll get you that birth certificate."


	26. Girls and Boys in School

**AN: Thank you all for your comments and conversation! This chapter was a hoot to write, and if you are careful, there are a lot of big clues to some of this story's many mysteries...enjoy!**

March was dragging on like a three-legged dog, she mused grimly. She sat poolside, legs in the water, listening to the radio and throwing the shells to her sunflower seeds into the pool.

_Plop._

"Stop that, Hope," her mom yelled from the upper balcony, "unless you're going to clean the pool yourself."

_Plop._

"If your father sees those, don't come running to me."

_Plop._

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

_Yes._

_Plop._

"Hope, he's cranky already, you're making it worse."

_Good._

_Plop._

If they thought she was a child, then she would act like a child. Broken vases, dishes in the sink, seeds in the pool, this was her goal: annoy her parents with these little acts of civil disobedience until they cracked and threw her out of the house.

Then she would, at least, be free.

It was a good plan.

But in the meantime…

She was going stir-crazy in this house.

At least when Leah had been stuck here, she had her to hang out with. Hope had only herself, who was poor company, she had to admit.

Leah…

It seemed liked everyone had forgotten she even existed; her name had become a taboo around the manor. At least she knew Leah was still alive—it didn't seem possible to be that mad at a dead person.

_Well, not true, Leah's mom._

Had Elijah told her yet, she wondered, about what he did, about the witches, about Davina's family?

_Communication is key to any good relationship_; at least that is what her magazines told her. She was worried that at this rate her friendship with Leah wouldn't last 'til the last day of school. Without a phone, she couldn't text Leah, without a car, she couldn't drive to campus.

It was like she was trapped on a deserted island; if she listened hard, she could hear the waves of the ocean.

_Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh._

This cabin fever was real.

Hope was regressing into her 15-year-old self: holing herself in her room and listening to really loud, angry music and a disturbing amount of French rap.

Her mom appeared in the doorway.

"Care turning that down, they can hear it in Tallahassee."

She pulled the pink highlighter across the page of her book without looking up.

And she didn't turn it down.

"You've been in here for days."

"I have no where else to go."

She had been slowly working through _Advanced Spanish Grammar _since breakfast.

"Okay, I just wanted to let you know there's Chinese downstairs."

"Hmmhm."

"And I'm heading out - Crescent meeting."

"Yeah, sounds great."

"Let me know if you need anything."

_I need you to go away,_ would have been the correct angsty teenage response, but Hope kept silent; despite her plan to annoy the hell out of her, she actually kind of felt bad for her mother. She seemed really stressed most of the time and had clearly cranked her Mother Bear protectiveness levels to maximum power.

These days, her mom was always worried.

/

These days, her dad was always angry. Once she had come down into the kitchen to grab some hummus and he was flying off the handle over the phone with some unfortunate soul. The topic was, as it had been for nearly three weeks, _those damn Guerreras._

"I don't care if you have to shut down the casinos, the bars and the night clubs, you will draw them out, Thompson. To hell with Faction politics, do what needs to be done and do it soon. And you get those boys of yours to report back to me on Leah as soon as you can."

She froze, and immediately reconsidered the hummus; although she was really hungry, she turned right around and went back to her room.

She wanted news on Leah, but she wasn't stupid enough to even be in the same room where her name was mentioned.

She hadn't seen Leah since the accident. Her father, of course, found out that Elijah gave her the keys to the car and let her drive to campus to get her assignments. She hadn't had time to look for Leah then, but her ears were still ringing from the verbal lashing she had received when she got home.

Elijah, her partner in crime, had been banished from the plantation house altogether.

She needed to talk to him. She needed to get a message to him. But without a phone or a car, she was adrift.

_Thou shall not steal._

She was never one for rules.

Her dad had left the phone on the kitchen island. Hope listened very carefully; her parents were up in their room, probably talking about her. She snatched the phone, slipped between the French doors and snuck around the pool toward the back of the yard.

It sucked to have parents with crazy vampire hearing.

_Speed dial, line 3._

_Ring, click._

"Niklaus, you have to give me time if you want results."

"Wrong hybrid."

"Hope? Does your father know you have his phone?"

"No, so I have to talk quickly. I can't get in contact with Leah - just tell me how she is? How's she's doing?"

Shuffling on the other line. A long pause.

"Hope, Leah and I are no longer seeing each other."

"What?" She yelled, whispering.

"We are no longer—"

"No, I heard you. What as in 'what the hell happened'? I just got used to the idea of my best friend and my uncle and now—you know, never mind, don't bother, that's not important right now. Do you at least know how's she doing? Wait, no, _let's_ talk about this- are you telling me that after the accident—what, you find out she's a werewolf and just drop her? Where do you get off-"

"Hope, Leah is fine. Trust me."

"Then convince dad to let me see her."

"No."

"Then convince _mom_ to let me see her."

"Not even slightly possible."

"You're not trying."

"I'm not arguing with you about this."

"What happened to 'I will always be on your side'?"

"I made a promise to your father, I won't break that, even for you."

"Oh please, it's not like you're helping me commit a felony or something."

"No? Did you not just steal your father's phone?"

She heard a door close loudly somewhere above her; time to go.

"Why do I even bother? Goodbye, Elijah. I'll do it myself."

"Hope don't-"

_Click._

She had hung up on him.

She wanted to hurl the phone into the pool, that's how frustrated she was by it all.

_That would definitely piss her father off._

Instead, she carefully slid back inside and returned the phone to the kitchen counter.

But she wasn't giving up and she wasn't giving in.

/

If they thought she was a criminal, then she would act like a criminal.

Luckily, her dad was really predictable with his hiding places: Stones under the bed, the good bourbon in the back of the wardrobe, the white oak stake in the bust of Socrates on the third shelf from the top of the middle bookcase in the front sitting room…

…and the spare car keys under the ficus in the foyer.

She waited until her parents left, waited 30 more minutes just to be safe, then jumped in the second car.

She was going to find Leah. Screw Elijah, she'd do it herself.

She first went to her dorm. The guy working the check-in desk was giving her a hard time; he needed to push a button to open the security doors to the elevator, but he was making an awfully big fuss over this little request.

Apparently it was also against school policy to give out information on students randomly to other students.

"But I'm her friend."

"Everyone's that girl's friend. She's has "friends" in and out of here every weekend."

After cursing out the guard within an inch of his life, he finally pointed her in the right direction.

She tried four bars before she arrived at the local fraternity water hole.

Showing her ID to the guy at the door, she stepped into perfect college chaos.

The bar was crowded, the floor was sticky, it smelled like beer.

And Leah was dancing center stage on the countertop.

"Leah!"

Her little black dress was so short it was more of a shirt really.

"Leah!"

The music was blaring obnoxiously loud.

"LEAH!"

The dancing girl stopped dancing, although she kept spinning for a few seconds more.

"HEY!" She yelled down from the bar.

"HEY!" Hope tried. "WANT TO COME DOWN?"

"WHAT?"

"COME. DOWN."

Leah stuck out her hand and some random guy helped her down before leaving her with a wink and a slap on the ass.

_Jesus Chris_t, Leah. Spring break, much?

Leah flipped her hair out of her face before bouncing over to Hope.

"Hey."

"Hey," Leah chirped.

"That's it, just 'hey'?"

She gave a little shrug that was more flirty than confused.

"Hey…_baby_?"

"Leah..."

Leah cocked her head, grabbing some random person's shot from the bar.

"Do I know you?"

"You're kidding."

"Did I sleep with you?"

"Leah!"

"Okay, well, that is my name...so...how do you know it?"

Leah downed her shot and slammed the glass on the dirty bar top.

"Real funny, I've come to take you home."

"Oh, you _are _hitting on me."

"Leah, stop. Don't make me call Elijah."

Leah swayed, twirling her rusty hair between scarlet-tipped fingers.

"Oooh, who's Elijah? Is he in Kappa Sig?"

Ok, maybe she wasn't joking.

"Elijah… your boyfriend."

"Oh god, _was that his name_? Ugh, and is that what he's telling people? Let me tell you..."

"Hope."

"Hope. Let me tell you, Hope. You hook up with these frat boys once and they think it's love."

Okay...she definitely wasn't joking.

Or drunk.

She's been compelled.

Compelled to forget…apparently… everything…and everyone.

_Fucking fantastic._

This was a disaster.

She needed backup, stat.

"Hey, you like to dance, right?"

"Yes," Leah beamed, "How'd you know!?"

"Okay, how about...uh...how about this. I'm going to make a call and you stay, right here...maybe get yourself some water. Don't touch…anything…or anyone. I'll be right back and then we can dance, sound good?"

Leah gave her random new friend a thumbs-up before pulling herself up onto a bar stool.

Hope meandered through the crowd, heading for the front door. She needed to find a pay phone and call in some reinforcement.

"Aidan?"

"Hey, Princess, what's new? Is this a new number?"

"No, payphone, listen…I need help."

"Whoa, what's up?"

"Um...remember my friend Leah I told you about?"

"Yeah, yeah...sorry I can't really hear you...what's up again?"

"I need help with Leah. She's at the bar across from Delta Xi."

She heard him laugh on the other end of the line.

"She need a designated driver?"

"No, well yes, but it's worse than that. I think she's been compelled."

"To party 'til you puke?"

"Aidan, shut up and listen."

"As you wish, Princess."

"Stop calling me that, I'm serious, she's...not usually like this. Or maybe she was...before I met her...I don't know...but I do know that she doesn't know who I am, or Elijah, or...I don't know...oh my god, what if my dad compelled her?"

"Whoa, family drama, you're gonna have to start from the beginning."

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later, just get over here and help me get her back to her dorm."

She could hear him moving around over the line.

"You ask, I do. I'm just at the House, be there in less than five."

He hung up and she cringed thinking about going back into that bar.

True to his word, Aidan was there in minutes. She had never seen him look so...so un-fratty. He was even wearing sneakers instead of those dumb sandals. His California surfer hair was wind-swept from running.

"I'm here, where is she?"

"Inside," she motioned.

Ten minutes later, it took both of them to drag Leah out into the street. The doorman gave them a grateful look and waved them off.

"Whoa, whoa, I got you."

Leah had one arm draped over Aidan's shoulder as they moved further into the street and away from the music. She was singing whatever song had been on in the bar when they left…really badly.

Hope was on Aidan's left as the three of them turned onto the main road back to campus.

"So this is Leah St. Ann," he laughed.

"This is compelled, _drunk, _Leah St. Ann. She's much more charming usually, trust me."

"Nah, I think she's great."

They turned down another street, this one dark.

"I don't understand how this school doesn't have enough money to fix the fucking streetlights around here…this…this is a safely hazard," she joked.

"Nah, we're good. You've got me and the light of the moon, Princess, nothing to worry about…Hey."

"What?"

"When is the moon not hungry?"

"What…I don't know…when?"

"When it's full!"

She shoved him, nearly toppling him and Leah.

"Fucking werewolf humor, not funny!"

But she couldn't help but look up at the moon, still smiling from his dumb joke.

She stopped suddenly.

_Shit._

She had just remembered something really, really important.

"Uh…random question…werewolves turn on the full moon, right?"

"Yeah…"

He was intrigued…he hadn't heard this joke before.

They kept walking.

"Uh…okay, but only triggered wolves, right?"

"This isn't a joke, is it?" He frowned.

She ignored his question entirely and continued with her own.

"And you trigger your gene by…uh…killing someone right?"

"Hope, what are you asking?"

"Does running over a wolf…who is technically a person…with your car-"

"HOPE, ARE YOU TELLING ME-"

"No, no, no, _not me_….uh…but maybe…if I have _this friend_ who-"

"Leah's a _triggered werewolf, Hope!?_"

"Shhh, no need to tell the entire campus!" She hissed.

"Hope, when I asked 'what's new'…this counts as new…this is very new and very important."

Hope just kind of stood there waving her hands around.

"You do know that the full moon is _tomorrow," _he asked forcefully.

"I kinda figured that out, that's why I told you…just…now…okay, but look, it's cool, she has this bracelet that-"

_Well fuck._

"Leah, where's your bracelet?"

"What bracelet?" she slurred.

"Your bracelet, _the bracelet_, the black stone bracelet Elijah gave you?"

"Why do you care so much about Elijah? Oh my god, are you Elijah's girlfriend? Trust me, I didn't know he had a girlfriend, he said he wasn't seeing anyone, I _promise…"_

This was worse than a disaster.

This was the end of the world.

"Shit, Aidan what do we do?"

_"We?"_

"We, yes we, _we _are in this mess together."

They had almost reached her dorm.

"Well, she can turn with us tomorrow night."

"With a bunch of gross frat boys, no."

"We have a special basement and everything."

"No."

"Hope, you are out of options at this point."

They were approaching the main doors.

"No, wait. The bracelet, the bracelet, I know it had a moonlight stone in it. It must be at Elijah's…or home…I don't know, but I have until tomorrow night, right? I still have time to find it and come back here before tomorrow night."

"And what do we do with Leah the drunk werewolf until then?"

They were in the lobby.

"God, let's just get her home and make sure she stays there until I can get back here with the stone."

One small problem, the dude at the desk.

"I can't let you up."

"You are fucking kidding me."

"Miss, you need to sign in your friends, I can't let you through otherwise."

"We'll just be a minute," Hope begged.

"It's campus policy."

Leah was about to pass out; Hope gestured to her dramatically.

"Really? We are trying to get our drunk friend into bed."

"Look, I don't care what the three of you do once you're up there, but you gotta sign in. Can't buzz you through until you do."

Aidan shifted Leah onto Hope's shoulder then leaned over the desk to stare the guy down.

"I'm gonna lay out your options: you push the button and let us through, or you eat out of a straw for the rest of your life."

"Dude, I don't have anything against you, your girlfriend, or your sister—but I'm not letting you up."

"_Dude_, you are so off track."

Aidan leapt over the desk, socked the guard in the jaw and pushed the goddamn button himself.

The security door buzzed and Hope pulled it open with her free hand.

"Totally unnecessary," she scolded him, maneuvering Leah through the door.

"Completely necessary," he scowled, holding the door open for her the rest of the way.

They got lucky; Leah hadn't locked her door, the keys were still inside on her desk.

"Okay, into bed with you."

He swung Leah over his shoulders and carrying her from the door to her bed, plopped her down gently.

Hope bounced down on the bed next to her.

"You have to stay here until I get back, okay, are you listening? Listen, Leah. If I don't come back until tomorrow, then don't leave until tomorrow."

Leah was pouting halfway into her pillow.

"Are you seriously ditching me for your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend and you are drunk. Listen, no, stop, listen: lock the door when I leave and don't unlock it until I come back."

Aidan scribbled something on a pink Post-it then made a big show of sticking it to the back of Leah's door.

Hope pointed to it, making sure she saw it.

"That's Aidan's number, yeah? If you need anything, call him and only him, okay? He's on campus, he'll be here in minutes—call, just don't leave your room. Only open the door for me or for him, okay?"

"Okay…what's your name again?" She yawned.

"Hope."

"Okay, Hope…I'm gonna go to sleep now. Thanks for walking me back, random stranger friend."

Hope sighed, looking up at Aidan as Leah clocked out.

"You think she'll leave?"

"I barely think she'll remember anything we just told her. Hope, you better get back here as soon as possible, you got me?"

"I get it, trust me, I'll get that bracelet."

"I'm dead serious. If you can't get that stone, I will be forced to drag her, kicking and screaming if need be, to the Beta Phi basement. And we _will_ chain her up and leave her there; no way in hell can we have a rookie werewolf running around campus, Hope. I'm serious."

"Me too, and don't worry, Aidan, I'll get her that bracelet."


	27. Freshmen

"I thought it was a good hiding place."

"I'm sure you did," Hayley sang, throwing herself onto the couch with the good bottle of bourbon (the one from the wardrobe).

"And Elijah doesn't know where she is?"

"Nope, says he hasn't spoken to her since you kicked him out."

Klaus was pacing in circles around the foyer, making nervous glances at the grandfather clock in the adjacent room.

The front door was wide open in case Hope decided to waltz on in anytime soon and explain her inexplicable absence.

"My brother is an idiot if he thinks I don't know Hope called him earlier today."

"Elijah is an idiot, but you are too – nope, don't look at me like that, I'm right and you know it – don't forget you were the one who hid the keys in the most obvious place in the world."

"I thought it was a good hiding place," he repeated, mostly to himself.

The house was still as the night when they had gotten home; Hayley's car was not in the drive and the spare set of keys was suspiciously no longer under the ficus.

It was pretty easy to put two and two together.

Hayley propped her feet on the end of the couch, trying to soothe her nervous mom jitters the old-fashioned way; she was drinking straight from the bottle.

"Of course, Elijah is behind this. As if booting him from the house was going to stop him from playing favorite uncle. I said taking away her phone wasn't going to do any good; I bet those two even have a secret language – smoke signals, perhaps, that's like actually a thing, right?"

Klaus was wearing a rut into the hardwood floor with his anxious pacing.

"And talk about childish," she continued, "Elijah and Hope are just impossible when they get all secret-y and hush-hush together like this."

Klaus paused only long enough to answer.

"Yes, but this time they're not putting their heads together to plan surprise breakfast in bed—I'm sure this involves Leah."

"And you definitely think Hope's on campus?"

"The one place we forbade her to go? Oh come, Hayley, of course, you don't remember when you were her age?"

Hayley downed her drink nervously.

"I'm still her age…technically."

They were doing a shoddy job at hiding their worry; Klaus had wanted to go after her as soon as they discovered she was gone. Hayley had convinced him to wait, to not overreact right away if she wasn't in any immediate danger.

But that was nearly a hour ago; Klaus was this close to running out that door and jumping in the car.

Hayley had the right idea, he reminded himself, sublimate until she returns.

He continued to pace a moment more before shifting direction and heading for the drink bar too.

"Can you feel her, though, through the bond?"

"No, no, maybe Davina did the spell and it's gone again…or…"

He filled a tumbler with ice.

"Or?"

"_Or _she's not in trouble and she's just out doing young stuff with young people."

"Oh no, she is definitely in trouble, with me, when she gets home."

Klaus came to sit by her on the sofa. She moved her legs to make room for him, passing him the bottle.

"Well, while we wait, what creative punishments can we come up with for her when she gets back?"

Hayley tilted the bottle back.

"You can play that game by yourself, Klaus; I just want her back."

/

The grey porcelain of the bathroom sink was stained crimson in deep rivers.

Hayley scrubbed her hands violently. They were clean already, now she was just rubbing them raw.

When she looked up into the mirror, she didn't recognize the face looking back.

And not only because of the blood matting her hair and painting her cheeks.

"Hayley!"

Klaus found her easily; she had tracked mud and blood through the entire Compound.

"Hayley?"

The faucet ran cold.

"Hayley, what are you doing?"

The door was open and the water still running.

She clung to the rim of the basin, shoulders rolled; her dress was completely ruined.

Klaus approached slowly, cautiously, standing in the bathroom but keeping his distance.

"Hayley, she's dead; you did it, it's over, she's dead."

He waited there patiently until she found the strength to speak.

"Then where's Hope? Where is my daughter?"

Klaus took a timid step forward.

"That's not how this works, love. You know that's not how it works."

She was still staring at herself in the mirror; is this who they saw when they looked at her? It would explain why Klaus looked so cautious and Elijah so sad whenever she walked into the room.

They were always talking about her; she didn't need hybrid hearing to know that.

If only they would listen to what she had to say.

"I want her back, I want her back now. I did what I had to do and now I want her back."

Klaus stood behind her, one hand on her waist, one hand pulling her caked hair away from her eyes.

Cause and effect, crime and punishment: after the harvest comes the reaping.

She had done what she set out to do since the moment she awoke as a hybrid.

_Death to the witches._

_Death to Genevieve._

_Death to them all._

So where was the fruit of her labor?

Had she thought her daughter would simply appear again when she had completed her tasks?

Perhaps. Hope had always seemed so close, so close at hand before. The sire bond had kept them connected; wherever she was, wherever Rebekah had taken her, it somehow always felt like her daughter was in the next room.

But then she would rush into the nursery and see the empty crib and _remember._

So Hayley turned it off, flipped the switch, whatever dumb phrases they kept using for what she simply knew she had to do.

It had worked; just like that, the pull was gone and the bond was gone and she could finally focus on getting through her To-Do list.

_Kill the witches._

_Kill Genevieve._

_Kill them all._

And now that was done: check, check and check.

So where was Hope?

He was looking at the mirror, and looking at her through the mirror.

"Turn it back on, Hayley. Gen is dead."

She laughed darkly, breaking eye contact with herself at last. She turned into him in the narrowness of the washroom.

"You think I turned it off because of Gen?"

"I assume you had your reasons."

"All my reasons are my daughter."

"_Our _daughter, Hayley, you didn't have to do this on your own."

"It's been over a year, I got tired of doing it your way."

"And Elijah's way."

Her laughter bounced off the cold sandstone tiles.

"Elijah is an idiot."

"An idiot who took out the witches…_for you."_

She yanked a hand towel from its silver dowel, finally seeing to her spattered face.

"A romantic gesture, I'm sure…"

"Turn it back on, Hayley."

"Is that you asking, or him?"

"_I'm_ asking, but _we_ need you with us as we move forward. The threat of my mother returning is gone, Gen is gone, the witches, gone. But there are so many more: the vampires and the wolves and the humans. We need you with us, Hayley."

She didn't get it.

"I'm right here."

He placed a hand on her freshly scrubbed cheek.

"No, _you. We need you back, Hayley."_

"I'm right here," she repeated blankly.

Hayley threw the hand towel in the sink, sliding past him and into the downstairs corridor. He had to hustle to keep up as they took the stairs up together.

"Hayley, stop."

She would take a shower, then figure out who she had to kill next to get Hope back.

"Hayley, stop."

Maybe Francesca; maybe if she sent the Guerreras howling back to whatever hole they crawled out of, then, _then, _she would get Hope back.

"Hayley, stop, _please_."

They reached the upper landing. She turned right abruptly.

She would never turn left until Hope was back in that room.

She started down the hallway; Klaus called to her from the top of the stairs.

"Hayley, I've contacted Rebekah."

That stopped her in her tracks.

Hayley turned on him, retracing her steps at double speed.

"_Is Hope okay?"_

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…listen, Hayley, we may be able to see her, just for a little."

"We can see her?"

"I thought it would be good for you, so I got in contact with Rebekah."

"We can see her?" She repeated, ignoring the details.

"Yes, but just for a little, maybe only a few hours—"

She was assailing him, forcing him back down the stairs.

"When? When, Klaus?"

"Not until you turn your humanity back on."

She pushed him and he nearly toppled down the staircase.

He had thought this would go better.

"Are you _bribing_ me, Klaus, with _my own daughter_?"

"Are you angry at me? Because anger is an emotion. But so is desperation, and I know you are desperate to see Hope. That's all I'm saying, turn it back on and we can go see her together."

Hayley rounded on him, pushing him downstairs one step at a time.

He had definitely thought this would go better.

"You think _I would harm_ my daughter?"

"I didn't mean—"

"You didn't mean _what, Klaus?"_

This was good. This was rage. This was an emotion, and for the first time in six months, it was directed at someone other than Genevieve.

She beat his chest with her fists.

He would suffer anything if it meant Hayley would come back to them.

"Hayley…"

"I just want too see her, Klaus!"

"I know, I know…but Rebekah can only give us mere hours, I just want you to be _you_ for this."

They had reached the bottom step.

"I…I don't..I…"

"I know," he soothed, taking her hand.

Klaus stared deep into her wild eyes.

"Hayley, please. Turn it back on. I know it…it aches, and it hurts… but you cannot run away like this. You promised me that you'd set all of this aside once Gen was gone. Elijah will rebuild the Faction, the Faction will help us rebuild the city, all you have to do is just be_ here_."

"Here?"

"With me."

The fire inside Hayley burned low at the sound of his voice. He took both her hands in his own, a tender gesture.

"Please, do it, if not for me, or Elijah, then for Hope."

Her cheeks were stained once more, this time with tears.

"I just want her back."

/

Hope parked off the main road and walked the rest of the way by the light of the moon. If her parents were home—which they were, every light seemed to be on in the house —well, getting the bracelet would be tricky.

Luckily, her dad was really predictable with his hiding places.

Stones under the bed—_please be there_, she prayed.

Skirting the property line, she snuck around the edge of the pool. The French doors leading from the patio to the kitchen were open, the kitchen dark, the lights off.

_This was almost too easy._

Slipping between the doors, she began to make her way through the kitchen toward the main hall and the stairs to the upper floor.

Something glimmered in the slant of moonlight.

The bracelet was lying in the middle of the kitchen island.

Hope froze, cringing, realizing:

_This was definitely too easy._

This was totally a trap.

The lights flickered on and Hayley and Klaus stood stern in the kitchen doorway.

"Nice for you to finally join us."

The only time her parents ever really seemed to work together was when she had done something wrong.

"Mom, _dad."_

"Don't 'dad' me Hope Mikaelson."

_Such a dad thing to say._

"Since when was open season declared on stealing priceless family artifacts?" Klaus began.

"This is not stealing, _this _is entrapment."

"I don't care what it is," Hayley continued, "you think I don't know it's a full moon tomorrow? We should have known you would deliberately ignore our orders to help that werewolf girl."

Hope really couldn't believe her mom right now; what happened to werewolf solidarity or whatever.

"Whatever, you're the ones who left her to turn…for the first time…all alone without a moonlight stone…oh wait, and she _doesn't even know she's a werewolf because you compelled her!"_

Hayley raised an eyebrow at Klaus; this was news to her.

"You compelled Leah?"

"Not I, love, but it appears my brother does actually keep his promises."

She folded her arms, frustrated to have been left out of the loop.

"So this is the 'deal' Elijah worked out with you? Wipe her memories so she's no longer a threat? And Elijah just…what…agreed to this?"

Klaus ignored Hope for a second to address the issue.

"He didn't exactly come to the bargaining table with the upper hand, Hayley, or have you already forgotten, that he was quite set on moving Gen's daughter right into our house and making her a Mikaelson?"

"I haven't _forgotten,_ but you can't just leave a new werewolf to turn on her own. That's just…not cool, Klaus."

"Not cool?" He laughed. "No, please, elaborate."

Hope had taken the opportunity to attempt to tip-toe her way back out through the French doors.

Now _that _would have been way too easy.

"Don't even think about it," her father ordered.

"Go to your room—now— and stay there," her mother ordered.

She snatched the bracelet from the countertop and jammed it into her coat pocket.

"No, you're gonna have to drag me back to my room."

"As you wish."

In a flash, Klaus had his hand on her arm. She was so startled by the force of his touch that it took a minute to comprehend he was dragging her up the stairs and to her room.

He pushed her into the room, one hand on the door.

"You will stay put, and you will stay put until I can reach your aunt. So start packing, Hope, because first flight out, you are going to Paris and you will stay with Rebekah until Leah graduates and then moves far, far away…or I kill her. Because if you try to run off again, I will kill her, Hope. She is just some girl and you are my daughter. There is no choice."

He slammed the door so hard it rattled the frames on her wall.

/

They drove straight through the night until they pulled into the middle of a fallow cornfield, twelve miles from the nearest dustbowl town in Kansas.

Rebekah was there, waiting for them, leaning on the hood of her little red car with Hope in her arms.

The night was still starry when Hayley held her daughter for the first time in over 12 months. But when the sun rose over the fields, mother and daughter were once again pulled apart.

Rebekah had to drive away because Hayley could not walk away first.

Just a few, short, hours later, and now they were driving home; they had switched cars and taken a roundabout route, just to be safe. The road stretched on ahead of them as Klaus remembered his sister's words.

"We are moving, I won't tell you where but I'll get a message to you when we've settled. And I will find a witch, another witch, to bind her powers once we get there. I know, Nik, no loose ends."

Hayley was busy cradling Hope; Rebekah led Klaus further away, so she wouldn't overhear.

"This can't be a habit, Nik. This one time, for Hayley I understand, but it will only be that much harder for her when you return home. So you, and her, and Elijah, need to fix the City, as fast as you can."

"And what about Hayley? How do we fix her?"

"That's such an Elijah way to think—but he's wrong. You can't _fix her_, there's nothing to fix, she's not broken, Nik, she's hurting. You can fix the city but you can't fix her."

"It's going to take some time."

"I know, but she doesn't. Not yet, at least."

Klaus pulled his eyes away from the road to look over at Hayley; she was gazing out the window, lost, anywhere but here.

He took her hand and squeezed it, to let her know, wherever she was, he was right there too.

Hayley cried the entire ride home.

Klaus held her hand the entire ride home.

But that was the thing.

It wasn't really home without Hope.


	28. All Good Things (Come To An End)

Locked in her room (_from the outside, how was that even a thing?),_ Hope had nothing to do but grumble under her breath and begin to pack. Not that she had any intention of actually getting on a plane, dropping out of school, leaving Leah without even a goodbye, and moving in with her aunt.

I mean, for starters, she was rusty on her French.

But packing gave her hands something to do as her mind raced through option after option after option.

She had to get out of this house and to campus before the moon came up.

That was sure a fact.

The _how_ was the issue.

She thought about trying her luck with turning herself into a bird.

She thought about using her magic to start a small house fire.

She thought about jumping from her second floor window.

Actually, that last one was the best option so far.

It was 7 in the evening and the sky was slipping from purple into grey into black.

The moon was looking hella full.

Time was running out.

She still had her keys and the bracelet in her coat pocket. If her car was still parked out on the throughway, it was just a matter of escaping this room…if she could just get outside, she could lose herself in the surrounding orchards, then through the woods and onto the main road.

Sliding the window open with both hands, she paused, listening to hear if her parents were still talking—yelling at each other, more like, yep, they were arguing—still. She maneuvered her duffel over to the window, and lifting it up and onto the sill, sent it tumbling to the ground below with a small shove.

A loud _thud._

Pause.

Listen.

They were still yelling.

Okay, now the hard part.

Hope was not exactly looking forward to throwing herself out the window. As with most things in life, she was learning, things were often less cool than they sounded and more painful than you would think.

She would need to open the window much wider in order to get her body through and not end up decapitating herself.

_I can come back from most stuff, _she reminded herself_, but not decapitation._

She crawled out onto the sill, swinging her legs over the edge, aiming to land on her duffel.

Okay, breathe, okay, here we go.

_3…2…1…jump!_

/

Hope was really lucky she didn't get pulled over at the rate she had been speeding.

The campus was deserted, the result of spring break coupled with the typical weekend lull.

The guard at the desk was absent from his post, but she was able to pass the security door with ease, following on the heels of another student returning back from break. The elevator ride up to the fifth floor was not only painfully slow, but all the girl's luggage shoved into that tiny space made Hope claustrophobic.

_Ding. Floor five._

_Finally._

Racing down the hall, she knocked, then listened, then called Leah's name, then listened.

Then she tried the doorknob.

It swung open with a slight push.

Leah, naturally, was not in her room.

_God dammit, Leah, seriously?_

"Sit" and "stay" had apparently gone over her head.

Hope quickly scanned the room; the pink Post-it note had fallen from the back of the door and floated under her bed. Leah's keys were still on her desk, her dress from last night thrown carelessly onto the floor. Hope picked it up, absentmindedly folding it in her arms as she wondered where Leah could have gone off to.

The strips of black cloth came apart in her hands and fell to the floor in long ribbons.

The dress was in shreds.

Ripped, like some animal had gotten its claws into it.

Like _Leah _had gotten _her _claws into it.

_No, this is seriously not happening right now._

Leah's phone was on the desk. Grabbing it, Hope checked the display.

_9:06pm._

What a super specific time for everything to go to hell.

Grabbing the Post-it note, she punched in Aidan's numbers and hit send.

_You've reached the phone of Aidan Thompson; Bro, you know what to do._

_Beeeep._

_Well fuck._

The werewolves must already be on lock-down, which meant the full moon must be near its apex.

Wait.

Aidan had said if she didn't show up in time, he'd take Leah.

Is that what had happened? Should she try to Beta Phi house first?

Wherever Leah was, she was probably having one hell of an existential crisis.

Hope crunched the Post-it in her hand and raced out into the hallway, stopping outside the door to think for a second.

It was odd that her keys and phone were still here…

And Aidan hadn't left her a message? Not even a Post-it?

Something was off.

Leah _had_ to still be here. Somewhere. In this dorm.

_If something was happening to my body and I was freaking the fuck out, where would I go?_

The bathroom.

Sprinting down the empty hall she found the communal showers at the end on the left. They were empty; in fact, this whole floor seemed suspiciously empty.

But given the current circumstances, that was probably for the best.

Pushing the door open slowly, she knew Leah was inside as soon as she heard the whimpering.

_What's the difference between a drunk co-ed and a frightened baby werewolf?_

Not much apparently.

Leah was huddled in the corner of one of the shower stalls in only her bra and underwear, bare footed, her hair a tangled mess; she was shivering in a cold sweat, shaking like a cornered wild animal, eyes glowing gold and fangs already sharp.

Hope approached…but very carefully. The trick was to scope out the situation without provoking a confrontation.

Hope tried to make sense of what she saw.

Leah must have tried to cool herself off with a cold shower: Not only was her hair and skin still wet, but the tiled floor had flooded with water; it splashed as she walked through it.

Hope paused a moment, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

Every once in a while, Leah would convulse, her body contorting as her bones broke and bent and reformed, slowly and deliberately as the moon rose higher and higher.

_Oy, this was rough. This was rough just watching._

Hope drew the bracelet from her coat pocket and jangled it at Leah like keys before a baby. Did it have to be on her wrist, or could she just like, throw it at her? The latter option would keep her at a safe distance from Leah's teeth, but she wasn't going to leave anything to Murphy's Law, not tonight.

_Okay, so pin the bracelet on the werewolf it is._

Maybe there was still enough Leah in there to like…be helpful with the situation?

"Hey, Leah?"

Snarls and swipes.

_Nevermind._

Without overthinking it, Hope grabbed Leah's arm and pulled, extending it so she could get the bracelet around her hand.

Feeling threatened, Leah sank her fangs into Hope's arm.

"_Christ on a cracker, Leah!"_

She tried to yank her arm free, but Leah wasn't budging.

_"LEAH, LET GO!"_

Hope was learning the hard way: you cannot simply shake your arm free from someone's mouth when that someone has fangs. Using her free hand, Hope slapped Leah squarely across the face.

_I am so sorry._

But it worked. Leah leapt back into her corner of the shower, immediately crying out again as her bones began to snap up and down her body.

While Hope had to admit her friend was probably the one in more pain at this precise second, she still couldn't overlook the lovely circle of teeth marks she now sported. Crawling a safe distance away from Leah, Hope took a moment to examine her arm; Leah had drawn blood and the wound was bleeding.

She said a silent prayer for her super-hybrid magic blood, it really came in handy at times like this, like when your werewolf best friend takes a chunk out of your arm.

She winced, pulling back her sleeve to expose more of her arm. It was already beginning to heal, but it would be several more minutes before it wasn't so sore and she could move it freely.

Which would be fine, she could wait several minutes, as long as in the meantime Leah didn't complete her transformation and maul her to death.

She needed to get the fucking bracelet on Leah _now._

While her arm healed, she thought of ideas.

How does one trap a wild animal?

Mousetrap?

Box-and-stick trap?

Pit with spikes? Rabbit snare? Net hidden under leaves somewhere out in the forest?

_Aha!_

She had an idea; she had seen it on a nature special once.

_What?_ It was a good idea!

Grabbing some random person's towel from the countertop, she held it taunt in both hands above Leah's head.

_3…2…1...drop._

Hope had about five seconds while Leah was disoriented from the towel over her head before she tried to chomp through another limb.

Fortunately, it only took three seconds to grab Leah's hand and slide the bracelet onto her wrist.

The results were instantaneous.

"Pain...pain...I am in so much pain right now."

_Oh, thank God._

"Why is there a towel on my head?"

_Yes, it worked, thank you, thank you! One problem solved, 99 more to go._

She pulled the towel off Leah, bursting into laughter from sheer relief that her friend was no longer turning into a ravenous wolf before her eyes.

"You are the absolute worse, Leah, _I told you not to_…"

Leah was rubbing her sore limbs, wondering why she was in the shower.

"What just happened?"

"You were half-way through turning into a wolf in the middle of your hall bathroom."

Leah touched her hair, running fingers through the knots before bringing her hands down her chest.

"Um…so…where are my clothes?"

This would make such a great story later over drinks.

"Get this, you tore them off of yourself."

Leah scowled at the gleeful look on this random girl's face.

Suddenly self-conscious, she pulled the towel from the damp floor and wrapped it around her awkwardly before standing up.

Hope helped her up, leading her out of the stall carefully.

"Are you gonna explain why you were in the shower?"

Leah was suddenly extremely anxious; her bracelet jingled as her hands fidgeted.

"I was burning up, tried to cool down, hey, you don't have a phone on you do you?"

Her attention was clearly suddenly somewhere else.

"Um…no…."

Leah was acting weird.

'Weird' was clearly a relative term at the moment given five minutes ago.

"Uh…is there anyone around with a phone?"

Who the fuck did she feel like calling _right now?_

Hope began to pull her back toward her room.

"Sorry, it's just us so it seems, come on, let's get you back in your room, maybe get some clothes on you?"

"Is my phone in my room?"

Hope yanked her into the hallway.

Leah followed silently, a bit wobbly on her feet. When she shut her room door behind them, Hope gave Leah a minute to change into clean, dry clothes.

"Okay, I'm done, you can turn around now."

She was drying her hair, rubbing it between the towel and her hands.

"So, we can talk about this, but just not right now, my head _really hurts."_

"Of course," Hope agreed. "I'm sorry this happened to you, this must all be really confusing. Look, tomorrow, I promise, I will get Aidan back in here and he will explain everything to you."

Leah threw the towel on her bed, grabbing her phone like it was the last Apple product on earth.

She stared at her phone oddly for a second before beginning to scroll through the contacts.

She spared Hope a glance.

"Thanks, for helping, back there. Uh…what's your name again?"

"Hope. Hope Mikaelson."

She was still looking through her contacts.

"Oh my god, are you a senior here? I think your dad came into my office like a week ago…did you murder someone?"

"What?"

"Nevermind, and don't bother with Aidan, I'm sure I'll get all the answers I want, look Hope, can you give me Elijah's number, new phone and I must not have transferred it over."

"Actually, I-"

_Wait a minute… _

"You know who Elijah is?"

Leah was looking at her like she had sprouted antlers.

Which was really ironic given five minutes ago.

"I have to call Elijah," she was now repeating. "He said, um…he said call me as soon as …as I remember to call him…"

Even she looked confused by that last statement.

"What? When was this?"

"When was what?"

"When did Elijah tell you all this?"

She shrugged, still scrolling through her phone for his number.

"I don't know…he just told me to call him when I remembered to call him...and I …just remembered. Like a minute ago. Oh, sorry about your arm by the way, did I break the skin?"

Hope just gaped as Leah furiously continued to scroll through her contacts. Realizing she didn't have his number, she let out a frustrated growl.

"God, Hope, I am losing my mind over here. I _need to call Elijah now."_

Note to self, compulsion really messes with people's minds.

And they say drugs are bad for the brain.

"I…I don't have his number, I don't have my phone with me."

Leah threw her phone on the bed and grabbed her keys.

"Fine, there's a payphone in the lobby. Let's go."

"We still don't have his number!" Hope called after her as Leah all but ran from the room. "Wait, wait, stop."

Hope stopped her at the door, pulling her back in.

"Stop, Leah, stop. Look, stay! Stay! Think, where did Elijah compel you?"

"What?"

"Uh…fine...okay, where did Elijah tell you to call him…when you remembered to call him?"

Leah was still looking at her like _she _was the crazy one here.

"I was in my bed," she pointed blankly.

"Okay, so you were in _this room?"_

"Yeah," Leah spouted, still rubbing her sore limbs

"Okay, can you remember anything else he told you? Did you say anything about…me?"

"Oh, does Elijah know you?"

Leah was being completely unhelpful; Hope wasn't sure all the compulsion was actually gone. The one thing Leah did seem to remember was that she needed to call Elijah as soon as possible. Elijah would probably clear all this up once they reached him.

Small problem, they didn't have his number…

She suddenly had an idea.

"Leah, where's your syllabus?"

"_What?"_

"Your syllabus? From last semester, European History, 11am, Professor Thompson?"

"You were in that class?"

"Yes, yes, we sat next to each other the whole term, you don't remember?"

"Oh my god," Leah gasped, "have you gone crazy too?"

Hope ignored her and began digging through the pile of folders, notebooks and random paper on Leah's desk. After shuffling around for several minutes, she found what she needed.

Waving the syllabus at Leah, she grabbed Leah's phone and began punching in numbers.

"What are you doing? _Who_ are you calling?"

"Professor Thompson."

Leah couldn't even begin to articulate how lost she was; Hope was transferring the numbers from the syllabus to the phone.

"Professor Thompson! Leah, _Professor Thompson_ is Aidan's dad!"

Leah was going to sit down before she hurt herself.

"Aidan? The kid in here last night? _His dad_?! Where the hell did you pull that crack theory from?"

Hope handed the phone to Leah, the numbers to his home phone already on the screen.

"Trust me on this one, it totally all makes sense now, I _knew _that was him; I was wondering why our history teacher was at the Faction Christmas party."

Leah took the phone, gingerly, like it was a very sharp knife strapped to a grenade.

"And what, you want me to call him and ask his thoughts on the War of the Roses?"

"No," she groaned, although she was secretly glad the old Leah sass was back. "He's in the Faction; he has Elijah's number."

Suddenly remembering that her entire life's ambition at this moment was to _call Elijah, _Leah pushed _send_.

The phone rang once, twice, then the line went dead.

"That's weird."

_Try me._

"What?"

Leah brought the phone back to her ear and tried again, but all she got was static. She looked over nervously at Hope.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I don't know…maybe it's my phone? There's nothing…not even a dial tone, just, like, static."

Okay, that _was_ weird.

"It's probably just bad service, try the window."

She tried reconnecting again near the window but still, just static.

Hope just shrugged.

"Let's just go outside and try it."

/

Something was wrong with the elevator; it had been stuck on _Lobby_ for nearly five minutes.

"Let's take the stairs." Hope led the way.

Leah raced down the stairwell, desperate to call Elijah. Taking the final flight two stairs at a time, she shoved the emergency exit with both hands, Hope right behind her.

Someone was waiting for them on the other side of the door.

"_Long time no see, lobita."_

He was not alone.

Leah blinked to make sure she was seeing this straight.

"Davina?"

**AN: Guys, are you still with me? That's the end of Act 3. There will probably be a bit of a delay with the next chapter and the beginning of the final Act - this week is crazy at work. In the meantime, rest, recover, and let me hear those reviews!**


	29. Tall Tales For Spring

**AN: Welcome to Act 4, the beginning of the end- Beth, this one's in your honor.  
**

When Klaus and Hayley marched into the courtyard, Elijah was already waiting.

He had not, however, expected Niklaus to show up with the silver dagger in his hand.

"You better start talking, Elijah, or you will have _many _centuries to consider what you have done from the inside of your coffin."

Hayley tried a different approach.

"Hope's gone and we know you talked to her yesterday. Tell us what she said to you."

Elijah flattened down his tie, unfazed.

"Sit down, Niklaus, before you hurt yourself with that thing. I will tell you what I know, but I assure you, Hope is fine."

"Oh yeah?" Hayley challenged, although she still took a seat opposite him. "How do you know?"

"Hope did indeed call me yesterday. She was concerned about Leah. I told her Leah was fine, I've checked on her myself. The compulsion holds, our deal is still intact, Niklaus. I assumed she ran off to see for herself. Now, brother, will you please sit down so that I can continue?"

Klaus side-eyed his brother, but slowly sat down next to Hayley. He placed the dagger between all three of them on the table, a warning.

_Typical Niklaus._

"She did run away, but that was yesterday night," Hayley prompted.

"And now, I gather from your attendance here now, that she has not only run off again, but she has taken the moonlight bracelet with her."

Klaus leaned back in his chair.

"You know an awful lot for someone who isn't in cahoots with his delinquent niece."

"I told Hope quite firmly, I would not go behind your back, I would not help her disobey your rules."

Hayley rolled her eyes at his prevaricating.

"Like you didn't think for a second she'd do the exact opposite of what you said."

"Does Hope do that? I hadn't noticed."

Hayley wanted to smack that grin off his face.

"So where is she _now, _Elijah?"

"With Leah."

"_On the full moon?"_

"Do not worry, Niklaus. She is perfectly safe. They both are."

Hayley and Klaus shared a thought before turning back to Elijah.

"Get to your point, Elijah. What can't you wait to tell us, go on."

Elijah pulled out his phone, laying it on the table next to the dagger.

"Not ten minutes before you arrived, I received a call from William Thompson."

"Thompson?" Klaus demanded, "What did Thompson want?"

"Apparently, Niklaus, you had him doing some work for you, trying to find Pablo Guerrera?"

Hayley turned to Klaus at the news. He ignored her, responding to his brother.

"Thompson has proven himself a good man—I gave him a moonlight ring myself. I mean, yes I was this close to digging my teeth into his throat, but that was years and years ago, water under the bridge. If Hayley here has forgiven him for his unfortunate choices twenty years ago, then why should I not embrace him as well? Liam? Best Crescent wolf we have, if I had to say so."

Elijah's brow furrowed.

"_We _don't have him, Niklaus, William Thompson is a member of the Faction, over which _I _preside as its leader, he is mine to use and move around as I see fit; I do not appreciate your under the table dealings with the leaders of this city. If you want to run this city, then come out of your castle and run it."

Klaus' hand twitched dangerously toward the dagger.

Hayley stepped in before they got too off topic, and before Elijah ended up in a box.

"What does this have to do with Hope, Elijah?"

Elijah continued, albeit with tension in his voice.

"_Niklaus_ also had Thompson and his son's fraternity brothers trailing Leah. Someone apparently did not trust that'd I keep my side of the deal."

Hayley glared at Klaus.

"Anything else you wanna tell me? I thought we didn't keep things from each other, Klaus."

He shushed her with a wave of his hand, still focused on his brother.

"Well, given your track record, Elijah, you can hardly fault me for thinking you'd scoop that girl up and run off to China or someplace. I've never seen you concede so easily before, I knew you had to be up to something."

"Well, congratulations, your paranoia has paid off this time, Niklaus. I was indeed 'up to something' as you so eloquently put it. As I was saying, Thompson called me to let me know he had received a call, from Leah. The call hadn't gone through, but it was from her number."

Klaus was wringing his hands in impatience.

"And how is a dropped call a sign that Hope is alive and well? What if it was Hope calling from Leah's phone, calling to tell us that Leah was trying to tear her apart, perhaps?"

Hayley had forgotten that she was still mad at Klaus for leaving Leah to fend for herself on a full moon. She added it to the list for later.

"It was Leah calling, I am sure of it, because I compelled her to call me as soon as she remembered to call me."

"Is this a riddle, Elijah?"

"Not at all brother, just a bit of creative compulsion."

"What." Klaus was fuming. "So you _did _disobey by orders."

"You _ordered _me to compel her to forget everything she has learned about us since September, Niklaus, you _ordered_ me to make sure she would no longer be a threat to this family. Rest assured, I did what you so generously demanded, but I'd be damned if I let that girl go forth defenseless against her enemies."

"Her _enemies_, Elijah? Oh, please, don't tell me you still have a soft spot for this girl, brother... go on, tell me, you compelled her to call you as soon as she remembered to call you…okay, fine I'll play along…how did you get her to remember?"

"Hope," he responded assuredly.

"Ah," Klaus gave up, turning to Hayley. "I can't deal with this nonsense anymore."

Hayley took over the conversation.

"Elijah, please, don't drag this out, we've been up for two days straight, and we've had a bottle of bourbon…each… and we are just really, really worried, so _please_, we just want her back."

Elijah was happy to make his brother suffer for what he did to Leah, but he could never be cruel to Hayley.

"I knew Hope would get the moonlight bracelet back to Leah, one way or another. So I compelled her: when the bracelet was back on her, she would remember to call me."

"So Hope got the bracelet to her tonight and she's okay?"

"Yes, Hayley, I envision they are in her dorm room right now."

Klaus was suspicious; his brother always thought he was so clever, yet he often overlooked the obvious.

"Why didn't she call you, then, if your secret plan worked so well?"

Elijah narrowed his eyes, wondering what his brother was trying to get at.

"Her old phone was lost in the accident a month ago; she did not have my number, I believe. The compulsion would have driven her to get in contact with me anyway she could. Thompson was her professor last semester, smart girl, she figured out he was in the Faction and could get a message to me."

"And once she got in contact with you?"

"Then once we were able to meet up, I would take her to Davina, remove the rest of the compulsion, and then we'd enjoy our lives, behind your back of course, until I could find some way to convince you, and you too, Hayley, that you are unfairly judging this girl."

"A noble plan," Klaus pointed out sarcastically.

"One of my finest, I am sure. However, clearly, things have not gone as planned."

Klaus was gleeful at the news.

"Why, yes, what now, Elijah? Why have you decided to bring your master plan to light? You could have easily kept us in the dark, for at least several more weeks."

"I have recently come to the revelation…that I have been selfish in my plan. It is not fair to ask Leah to lie to Hope, it is not fair to ask Hope to lie to her parents. Believe it or not Niklaus, Hayley, I do consider you excellent parents, and I am being honest, and sincere, when I say that I have no intent to undermine your parental authority. And that is why I am coming to you, tonight, right here, open and honest, and asking you: please, let me take Leah to Davina, let me remove the compulsion and let her, and us, live in peace."

Klaus could not believe what he was hearing; his laughter came out harsh.

Elijah took that as a clear _no_ and tried an alternative.

"Then I ask that you give us one more month, just until May, for her to graduate. And then yes, I will get her out of this city and away from those who would use her against this family. I will take her with me and show her the world, China, perhaps, like you said. She gets out of town, you get your…your threat…removed…a win-win arrangement that not even you can decline, Niklaus."

"Are you negotiating…with me, Elijah?"

"I am asking you, for this favor, as your brother."

They glowered at each other for a whole minute before Hayley put her foot down.

"It's a deal," she asserted, dropping the car keys on the table next to the dagger and his phone. "When she graduates, you both get out of town."

"Hayley!"

"No, Klaus, it's a fair deal, even you can't argue with that. It's either send Leah away or Hope—and there's no way I will let you send my daughter away, Klaus."

"And yes, what about Hope?" Klaus turned to ask her. "She'll never let us hear the end of it."

Hayley was adamant about this.

"Nope, it's a good deal and we are taking it. It's better than having Leah dead, we can tell her that. She needs to learn, she needs to get over this 'friends' nonsense. She needs to learn that there are things in life more important than some _friend_ you made on the first day of school."

Klaus was extremely proud at the moment; he had almost forgotten how regal Hayley could be in her negotiations.

"_Blut ist dicker als Wasser,_" Klaus quoted smugly.

"It's a deal, then?" Elijah ventured.

"Deal," Hayley confirmed. "We'll even put it in writing and everything. But right now, we need to go fetch our daughter."

She grabbed the keys from the table.

She had just pushed out her chair when the empty courtyard echoed with the ringing.

Elijah grabbed the phone from the table.

"Hello?"

He stood to take the call, moving away toward the corner for some privacy.

Klaus stood and faced Hayley.

"Elijah is lucky to have you on his side."

"I know, and he knows."

Elijah returned, his face grim.

"We need to get to campus, all of us, now."

"What's wrong?" Hayley quaked, her nerves instantly returning.

"That was Thompson. After he called me he went to the campus to check on his son's fraternity."

"The Crescent boys?" Hayley asked. "It's a full moon—but—they turn in their basement, did something happen?"

"The door to the basement was unbolted, wide open. The boys…"

Klaus grabbed his brother by the shoulder tightly.

"_What happened, Elijah?"_

"The werewolves were missing; the untriggered boys…had been killed."

"Killed?!" Hayley screeched, "The whole fraternity?"

"His son?" Klaus asked.

"Not among them."

Hayley pulled on Klaus desperately.

"Klaus, Hope is on campus. What if Leah was with the Crescent boys, what if Hope was with Leah?"

Klaus grabbed the dagger from the table.

"Everyone in the car, _now_."


	30. Raw Sugar

The guard in the lobby hadn't been taking a smoke break; he was lying dead behind the desk. The elevator was stuck on the first floor because some poor co-ed's body was preventing the doors for closing all the way. Pablo Guerrera was no longer in hiding; he was dragging her through the lobby, that dumb smile on his face, his fingers digging into her collarbone.

With those mysteries solved, Hope was still without answers.

"Davina, where are you taking her?"

The main doors were just before them. Davina had Leah by the arm; the poor girl hadn't the slightest clue what the hell was going on.

"Davina, let go of her, what are you doing?"

Hope tried to pull herself free from Pablo. She got one hand free and raised it at him, but Davina stepped in.

"Ah, stop that. No magic, not yet at least. Come with us, without incident, or I will rip that bracelet off her wrist and you can dog sit for the rest of the night."

_Well, damn._

_Where is Ms. Claire and what have you done with her?_

Hope lowered her hand.

"Whatever, just …don't hurt her."

The four of them continued toward the doors. Leah was still squirming.

"Hope? What's going on?"

She was too busy trying to get Pablo to let up on his death grip to answer.

"Hope, I really need to make that call."

"No one will be making any calls," Davina chimed, pulling Leah along, "I've seen to that."

"_You_ blocked her phone?"

"Well, yeah, can't have you putting pieces onto the board before it's time to play."

They were outside now; it was not quite midnight but campus was flooded with moonlight. A white van idled on the curb; the words _St. Ann Parish Recreation _were painted on the side. It was one of those big, nondescript vans, the type creepy old dudes hand candy out of before the opening credits.

_Well, great, we've officially stepped into the first five minutes of every crime drama ever._

Pablo, reaching the van first, slid open the side door with his free hand and shoved Hope inside.

She had to duck swiftly so not to hit her head. Once inside, she immediately turned on him.

"Fuck you, Pablo. You know Aidan Thompson and his cousins are like, right down the road? I'll bet they'll smell a rat, chase you down and rip you apart."

Pablo found this extremely funny, which was a sure sign of nothing good.

"Hell nah, little Mikaelson," he began, drumming his right hand along the back of her seat, "them Crescent boys got paid a little visit earlier. It's them you should probably worry about; I'm sure my brothers ran off the ones they didn't kill."

She reached out to grab at his hand, but he caught her by the wrist.

"_Creo que no, princesa."_

"I will rip that goddamn ring off your fucking finger, Pablo!"

"Yeah, yeah, sit down and shut up."

He pushed her further into the van. Defeated, Hope settled into her seat, her eyes adjusting to the dark interior.

Someone else was already in the driver's seat.

"Marcel?"

She had to admit, this show so far was really compelling.

"Hey, Hope, what's up? Got your permission slip? No slip, no trip."

Was he seriously joking about driving the getaway van?

"My dad is gonna kill you for this."

He laughed, sliding across the front seat to unlock the passenger side door.

"That's good, that's real good. Thanks for the joke, Hope, I needed a laugh today."

Davina thrust Leah into the back seat and after closing the door, took the seat up front next to Marcel.

"Drive," she ordered him, opening up a large, crinkly book on her lap.

"You ask, I do," he responded, hitting the gas.

_What just happened?_

"I think we were just kidnapped," Leah offered.

"Are you sure?" Hope whispered back. "Because I'm getting more of a field trip vibe…"

They drove for a minute in silence.

"Good to see you again, Leah," Davina smiled, looking up from her book to stare at her through the rear view mirror. "Can I just say we are thrilled all around that you didn't have to change tonight? That would have been really annoying for everyone."

Leah was making a dumb face, but to her defense, she had just been shoved into a van full of people she didn't know at 11 in the middle of the night.

Leah nervously drummed her fingers on her legs, remembering again that there was something she really needed to do as soon as possible.

"Yeah, trust me I'm thrilled too…so…who are you and do you have a phone on you?"

Davina abruptly turned around in her seat and faced Hope.

"Who compelled her?"

Hope threw up her hands.

"Why are you asking _me_?"

"Well you better un-compel her before we get where we are going."

"And where are we going?"

Even Marcel had to laugh at that.

"Nice try, Hope, you're really funny, you know that?"

"Do it, Hope," came Davina, less kindly.

"I can't, I can't do magic."

"You are a horrible liar, and trust me, I work with a house full of kids who are always trying to lie their way out of something or the other. Come on…try…just think of your mother, draw on the sire bond, and undo her compulsion."

"Why don't you it?"

"I have to save my power…and I'm busy."

She returned to her grimoire.

"I don't know how—"

"Come on, Hope," Marcel urged sternly, "Don't make me pull this car over."

Hope could see now where Leah had learned her weird sense of humor, from hanging out with psychopaths growing up.

Davina had turned back to her reading, now in a mood. Hope turned back to Leah.

_Backseat lobotomy it is. _

She made an apologetic face at Leah, placing one hand on each side of her head like she knew what she was doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Pretending I know what I'm doing, now, don't fidget 'cause this is probably gonna hurt."

"_Probably?"_

"Probably, definitely, yes."

"I don't hear screaming," Davina commented from the front.

"I'm doing it now!" Hope yelled back, then softly: "I'm sorry, give me a second."

Hope needed to draw on the sire bond.

So she thought of her mother.

She thought of meeting her parents for the first time in the airport in Sydney. Rebekah had her tightly by the hand; they had been waiting in the arrivals lounge, nervous glances at the clock on the board, a strawberry milkshake she was too anxious to finish melting in her hand.

The doors opened.

A man was waving at her, a woman was crying.

She knew the woman was her mother; she looked just like the princess in Rebekah's stories.

She thought of going through photo book after photo book on the sitting room sofa, her mother on one side, her father on the other, catching up on years and years of missed memories.

"And this is me at the London Zoo!"

"Did you see the elephants?" Klaus asked, pointing to the picture.

"Yes, but the ones in South Africa were happier. I think because they were free and could run around and do whatever they wanted."

"Are you happy?" Her mother had asked.

"I'm not an elephant, mom!" She had giggled, turning the page.

She thought of the time they made a cake for her dad. "Mom says it's a surprise, Elijah…shhhh," she warned him. She remembered getting flour everywhere, on her face and her hands and down the front of her dress; but her mom let her lick the spoon, so all's well that ends well perhaps.

She drew on these memories of her and her mother, and she channeled those feelings into magic,

a magic stronger than even the spell that bound it.

Leah had tears in her eyes as Hope began to undo the compulsion but she had to keep pushing, and soon Leah was screaming.

They had moved from crime drama to physiological thriller with a healthy side of mystery.

There was, however, a silver lining to all of this.

Using this much magic would certainly cause a pull on the sire bond. Her mother would be feeling it any moment now; she would tell her dad, they would get all angry and righteous like they did, and they would come and find her in no time at all.

Good news for her and Leah.

She couldn't say the same about Marcel and Davina.

See, the sire bond had its uses.

Which…

…Davina of all people would know.

Wait, was that what she _wanted_? Was Davina using her to lure in her mother?

_Talk about entrapment._

Hope dropped her hands and waited to see if she had been successful.

"This is the worse spring break ever, and I'm including that year in Miami..."

"Leah! It worked! I didn't fry your brain!"

"Hope, what did you do? _Christ,_ my head hurts."

She was so relieved it had worked that she was on the verge of laughter.

"Leah, I will never understand how someone raised in a church could curse as much as you."

Leah tried to laugh but ended up wincing in pain.

"I'm serious, what happened, my head is _throbbing._"

Still clutching the side of her hair, Leah straightened up in her seat. She squinted, suddenly seeing everything in a new light.

Why was she in the Holy Cross van…and was that…_Davina_?

"Okay, why is Davina kidnapping us?" She whispered.

"Are you back with us, Leah?" Davina asked casually, flipping a page.

Leah spoke up.

"Is this the activities van?"

Her head was still pounding.

"Yes, and let's just say we are all going to an…activity…right now."

The van lurched forward.

"Was that…_ow_…was that Pablo…earlier?" She whispered to Hope.

"Do you remember everything now?"

"Oh…_ow_…there's a lot of…uh, noise right now up here." She rubbed her temples in tiny circles. "It's like two timelines…just kinda…smashing together. Ugh, things are coming back in like, flashes."

She suddenly grabbed Hope's arm, pulling up her sleeve to inspect the damage.

"I'm so sorry! I bit you, I didn't mean to bite you!"

The skin was flawless.

"You healed?"

Hope pulled her sleeve back down, patting Leah reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone about your biting fetish," she joked.

Leah froze; Hope's words had resurfaced a foggy memory.

"Oh god-"

Hope asked the obvious question.

"Oh god, _what?"_

"Oh god I've cheated on Elijah."

Hope hushed her, lowering her voice.

"Are you seriously thinking about this _now_?"

Leah had to remove her hands from over her mouth.

"Oh, I am the _shittiest _girlfriend!"

Hope wanted to head this conversation off as soon as possible. She put a sympathetic hand on Leah's arm.

"Trust me, I think Elijah holds all the blame for this one."

Leah was remembering more and more.

"That's right, _that bastard_ compelled me!"

Marcel raised his eyes from the road to glance at the rear view mirror.

"Leah, shh, you don't have to yell it to the world, I'm sure he was just trying to protect you; my dad…kinda goes through these phases were he wants to murder everyone I talk to. Elijah had to make some deal with him to keep you safe."

Leah was already planning; Elijah was going to _hear it_ when she saw him next.

"To keep me safe? So this was, like, some romantic gesture? Wipe my memories, kick me out into the world as a new werewolf without knowing what the hell I'm doing, expect me not to kill my entire hall on the next full moon?"

Hope really didn't have a response to that.

"I'm…sure he had some plan."

"He's so dead, that was…that was not alright. I'm gonna kill him, then I'm gonna tell him how I feel, then I'm gonna kill him again - and I'm going to blame _all_ the bad decisions I made in the last month on him as well."

"Yeah…I, uh…I didn't realize you were…"

Leah finally got where she was going.

"Oh my god, Hope, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to hit on you!"

"I figured…I just wanted to check."

"I don't even know why I would do all that, ugh, I hate loud parties….and tequila...in fact, remind me to tell you about Miami sometime."

The van had pulled off the main road; the lights of the city were fading behind them.

"Well, I don't know much about compulsion, but if I had to take a guess, I'd guess you can't change someone's memories without changing who they are. It's like, stripping off layers; if you want to get to a layer in the middle you have to strip off the top ones first."

"Well, he stripped me down to my sophomore year self. I'm so sorry you had to see that."

"Don't apologize, that's who you are, even if you're different now."

It was a really tender moment to be having in the back of a van.

"Okay, enough talk about stripping. Sins of the past aside, what the hell is going on?"

Davina glanced at the girls in the mirror. Smiling, she pulled something from between the pages of her spell book.

"Leah, I have something for you."

She turned slightly, passing a folded square to Leah. It was a sheet of paper, old and a bit yellow, folded in fours.

Leah unfolded it carefully, but couldn't make out the handwriting.

"I can't read it, it's too dark back here."

Davina flicked on the overhead light before diving back into her grimoire.

"Leah, what is it?"

She leaned over to read along.

_My dearest daughter,_

"Oh my god," Leah gasped.

"Oh my god!" Hope screeched, leaning in more. "Read it, you have to read it!"

_My dearest daughter,_

_They say it takes a village to raise a child, and if you are reading this now, then I shall be content in death to know that this was true. I will not try to defend myself against what you have undoubtedly already heard about me. I do not believe that I deserve that favor, no more than I deserve to be called your mother. _

_So I write this letter to you, not as your mother; I write this to you as an elder of your community, as one of the ancestors of the witches of the French Quarter of New Orleans; it is important that you know this and believe that it is true: the witches did not abandon you. They have been guiding you, leading you through the years, keeping you safe until such a time as now._

"Holy shit, Leah!"

"Shut up, I'm still reading."

_After the Harvest shall always come the Reaping—no amount of time can separate the cause from the effect, or the crime from the punishment. Believe in the Harvest and its magic and you shall have everything you deserved from the start: a home, a family, and a mother that loves you. My love for you is terrible and I have done terrible things for you and for the ancestors—but I am firm in my belief that they will repay my devotion. _

_Until next time,_

_Genevieve_

"Holy shit, Leah, _your mom_ wrote this?"

Leah shoved a hand into Hope's face, pushing her into her corner of the van.

She needed a moment.

This was the letter.

_I thought they had burned it._

Leah read it through three times. This was it; this was what she had waited for her entire life. For so long she had assumed, and secretly hoped, that someone would show up one day and answer all the questions she had.

_This is the letter my mother left with me._

Here were her answers, but now she only had more questions.

Leah looked up toward the front of the van.

"Davina, where did you get this?"

She was still flipping through her grimoire, tagging certain pages with little fluorescent strips.

"I had it in safe keeping."

"You _had this all along?"_

"How'd kids get so ungrateful these days, D?" Marcel asked, turning the van sharply onto a smaller access road.

Davina answered with a smile.

"I was keeping it safe until tonight, until you were ready to understand what your mother wants you to know."

"What does she want me to know?" Leah asked, still clutching the letter.

Davina turned around just as Marcel began to park the van.

"Patience is a virtue, Leah," she crooned, unbuckling her seatbelt.

Hope grew impatient; she was unable to recognize the road they were on from her window.

"Davina, where are we, where have you taken us."

"To your ancestors, Hope, and yours, Leah."

As Marcel and Davina got out of the van, Leah peered up through her window at the sign overhead.

"Uh…Hope? This can't be good."

The moon shone off the wrought-iron lettering.

_Lafayette Cemetery._


	31. Cayendo

Klaus drove the SUV onto the curb and into the patch of grass in front of Leah's dorm. Elijah had tried her phone on the way over but the calls wouldn't go through. As soon as Klaus killed the engine, the three of them evacuated the vehicle. Elijah made his way to the Crescents' house; Hayley and Klaus made a beeline for the lobby of the dormitory.

It was empty.

Klaus pulled on the security door and then he yanked on it, hard.

Nothing.

"Bloody thing won't open," he roared, kicking the door in frustration.

Hayley searched wildly, checking the walls around the door.

"There must be a button or a swipe thing or something."

Noticing the sign-in clipboard abandoned on the counter, Hayley sprinted around to the back of the guard's desk in search of a buzzer for the door.

She nearly tripped over something on the ground.

"Klaus, you're gonna want to see this."

She bent down to examine the body; it was covered in blood and smelt like wet dog.

"_Guerreras_…" Klaus growled, taking in the scene. "Pablo Guerrera."

Hayley pushed the buzzer and Klaus held open the security door. There was another body blocking the elevator so they took the stairs to the fifth floor.

Even for a school holiday, this place was suspiciously deserted.

"Hope?" Hayley's voice rang down the hall.

"HOPE!" Klaus echoed until they finally reached Leah's room.

_Room 515. _

Thanks to Thompson's reports_, _he knew everything about Leah-everything except the most important thing: her current location.

"She's not here, they aren't here, Hayley."

She jumped as the ring of her phone broke the silence.

Elijah was calling.

"She's not here. Elijah, _please_ tell me she's not at that House."

"She's not here. I have Thompson's ring, he turned in order to track down his son. He thinks the Guerreras attacked, scattered the pack - a diversion, perhaps."

Klaus grabbed the phone from Hayley.

"I will kill them all, Elijah."

"I'm sure you will, but right now we need to find the girls. Did you find anything at the dorm?"

"Two dead humans and the nauseating stench of Pablo Guerrera."

"You think he's behind this? You think he has Hope?"

_And Leah, _he added, but only to himself.

As on Halloween, and Christmas, and the night on the parkway—one thing was clear; it had always been about Leah, not Hope, but Hayley and Klaus only had eyes for their daughter.

They refused to see what he knew: Leah was the one in the middle of this mess.

Hope had a mother and a father who would go to any extreme to make sure she was safe, even though she had proven time and again that she was quite capable of holding her own when necessary. Elijah couldn't trust Hayley or his brother to protect Leah; if they were going after Hope, someone had to go after Leah.

Elijah was already making his way down the porch steps of the fraternity house and across the main campus road back toward the dorm. Niklaus was still pushing him for answers over the phone.

"Where would he have taken her?"

"Back to the Quarter? To the casino?"

"Too obvious, Elijah…_you're not thinking straight."_

The three of them reunited on the grass in front of the car.

Elijah ended the call, pocketing his phone as he reached his brother and Hayley.

"Then we find Antonia, and use her as bait."

That answer displeased Niklaus as well.

"As if that witch isn't in on this too…I _warned you, Elijah. _The drums of war have been beating in this city for years and you have refused to hear them. Trust the fools not to bite the hand that feeds them, yes, well, look where that philosophy has gotten us."

"Or perhaps, brother, you should look at your own actions before judging mine; must I remind you that Pablo Guerrera is strictly speaking _your_ pawn?"

"Well he's strictly speaking _dead_ once I find him, that is for sure. No one harms my daughter and lives—"

"—or Leah," Elijah added openly at last.

"_I don't care about that girl_," he reminded his brother, a finger raised in warning. "And I don't care what Hayley has promised you, I better not find her in the middle of this."

Hayley made to step between the brothers when she stumbled, suddenly feeling faint in the cool night air.

Elijah noticed immediately.

"Hayley?"

He had her by the elbow, steering her toward the Escalade.

"It's the sire bond, it's not gone."

Klaus cornered her.

"You feel Hope?"

"Yes, but I don't know what she wants. I…I don't think she's in trouble, she's just…she just must be using a lot of magic."

"You don't think she's in trouble?" Klaus asked incredulous.

"No, I mean, well, last time the urge was to save Leah, to get to Leah and save her, because that's what Hope was feeling. This time it's just…"

She waved her hands around dramatically.

Klaus wasn't in the mood for charades.

_"Just what, Hayley?"_

"She's…just out of reach. I don't know where she is or what she wants me to do."

"Try _harder,_" he pushed.

Hayley pushed back.

"It doesn't work like that—"

"_Make it_ work like that," he snapped at her.

With a scowl in his direction, Hayley held out a hand for silence.

They waited in the night for several minutes.

"Wait…I got it. I feel her."

"What do you feel, Hayley," Elijah asked gently, but urgently.

"Joy, relief, she's happy, something's happened and she's happy for Leah."

Elijah was feeling joy and relief himself at the news that Leah was likely safe; Klaus, on the other hand, was still riled up and out for blood.

He was already climbing back into the SUV.

"Can you locate her, if we start driving, like last time, can you lead us there?"

"Klaus, I don't know, but I would appreciate if you stopped yelling at me."

He stared her down, halfway into the driver's seat.

"Get in the car, Hayley. Now."

Elijah held Hayley back with an arm.

"Perhaps we should formulate a plan first," he suggested solemnly. "If Pablo has Hope, he knows he can lead you to wherever he has her through that bond- we could be walking into a trap."

Hayley paused only long enough to answer him.

"This is most definitely a trap, but it's Hope, so there's really no question, Elijah."

She pushed past him and climbed into the idling vehicle.

Elijah spared an anxious glance at the rising full moon before following suit.

/

"So, when you said 'activity,' I was thinking kickball, or a museum, or… well, anything not in a cemetery honestly."

Davina ignored Leah as she pushed open the iron gate. Pablo was waiting for them just inside the boundary; he winked at Hope as they passed before grabbing Leah by the wrist and pulling her ahead with Davina.

"If you, or _la princesa_, try any shit, it's real live teen wolf for you, _comprendes?"_

He yanked at her bracelet as a warning and Leah nodded to show she understood.

Hope was forced to follow, but not before flipping Pablo off dramatically.

Marcel finished parking the van and caught up with her.

"You're just like your dad, you know that? Why don't you chill on the attitude, little sis."

"_Don't_ call me that, I'm _not _your sister."

"You're right, scratch that, my bad, _Hope._ Still, do me a favor and just roll with it, yeah? I don't want more trouble than I already got."

"Says the man who kidnapped me and my friend."

He laughed, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"How you know I'm not taking you to a rave or something?"

"Are you?"

"No."

He pushed her, driving her onward.

/

Forming the rearguard, Marcel herded their small group through the maze of the dead. Candles left and right burst into flame as Davina led the way, the grimoire under one arm, a backpack strap around the other.

After turning this way and that for what seemed like forever, the four of them entered into a stone forum. The square was spacious and open to the moon; weeds pushed their way up through the broken flagstones and candles burnt dimly from their perches on the encircling crypts.

Hope didn't remember being here, but she knew exactly where she was.

"Last time I was here, it was my birthday."

Davina walked up to the altar, laying down the grimoire and wiping the dust from the cool stone table.

"That's right, Hope, as in the exact day you were born."

She looked up at the moon, then down at Marcel.

"You should-"

"I know, Little D. I'll go fetch her right now."

Marcel flashed from the square, leaving Hope alone. Pablo still had Leah roughly by the arm.

"Are you going to explain why we're here?"

Davina glanced at her watch.

"Well, might as well. We have a while before Hayley and Elijah show up."

"Elijah?" Leah piped up. "So…so someone _did _call Elijah?"

"Shut up, Leah," Hope whispered at her. "No one called Elijah."

"I'm _sorry_, I just didn't realize there was a guest list or I would have dis-invited myself from this _creepy cemetery party."_

Unzipping her backpack, Davina began to take out objects, laying them on the stone table as she responded to the girls.

"In a way, you did invite him, Leah. As much as I don't approve of your…relationship with Elijah, it did make getting him here tonight quite easy. And of course you, Hope, will bring your mother straight here with the sire bond, convenient, right? Ugh, though Klaus will undoubtedly come along too, he doesn't like being left out of the drama."

Leah shared a look with Hope before turning back to Davina.

"Could you, maybe, cut the cryptic bullshit and tell us something we don't know?"

Davina scowled, continuing to pull stuff from her bag.

Like a knife. Like a very, very big knife.

"That mouth of yours Leah is gonna get you in trouble one day. What ever happened to respecting your elders?"

"What, like you? All you ever did was drive the activities van, do all the accounting for Holy Cross and lie to me for years and years and years about who my mother was."

Davina paused for a moment, abandoning her task to focus on Leah.

"Do you want to talk about this? You seem really hurt right now—"

"Are you…kidding me, Davina? I'm not a little kid anymore, you can't keep me in the dark and lock me in my room and throw me in vans and shit, just _answers, _that's what I want to talk about: _why are we here_?"

Davina was saved from answering by the arrival of Marcel. He was not alone.

"One assistant, coming right up, D."

"Thanks, Marcel. You'll wait back at the House?"

"You sure you don't want some back-up?"

"I'm fine, I've got Pablo and Antonia for that. _Please, _just wait for me at the House."

"You got it."

He left the square.

Antonia bounced over to Pablo, encircling him in a kiss before sauntering up to Davina and giving her a little wave.

"I'm here, what do you need me to do?"

"Form the triangle."

"You got it."

The witch grabbed something from the altar and walked out into the middle of the square.

"Can y'all move back a bit, I need space."

Herding them to the side with a wave of her hand, she began to outline a large triangle, several feet wide, on the paving stones in chalk.

Hope leaned over Antonia's crouched form.

"So…I'm going to skip the obvious question and just let you know that I'm totally free to come to your wedding in June…that is, if I'm not going to die tonight. So, like, can you tell me what's going on and just let me know if me dying is even somewhere in the realm of possibility?"

Antonia ignored her for a second, finishing the third side of the triangle. She began to draw another triangle inscribed inside the larger one.

"Hope, just keep your mouth shut and you'll be fine."

The second triangle complete, she stepped back to survey the finished product.

"Okay, then what's in the stars for Leah? Davina's not gonna hurt her is she?"

Antonia, wiped her chalky hands on her jeans, locking eyes with Hope.

"I'm serious, don't ask questions if you don't want to hear the answer."

Hope took that as a mild to definite _yes._

Antonia joined Davina on the steps of the altar. Davina handed her two containers of Morton Salt with which the witch began to draw intricate designs around the base of the stone table.

"Do you know, Leah," Davina began, polishing the incredibly unnecessarily large knife, "what the strongest shape is?"

Leah pointed to herself, checking if that question was indeed meant for her.

"Um, is this an engineering question, because if you remember I nearly failed Geometry in 10th grade."

"It's a triangle," Davina answered for herself. "A triangle is the strongest shape. Each side presses upon the other in equal measure, creating a force that distributes equally from every corner and every side."

"Actually I think I got a C- in math, so you're gonna have to pretend I have no idea what you're talking… because I don't."

After so many years, Davina had learned to ignore Leah's attitude; it was all bark and no bite anyway.

"Leah, I know you have recently…discovered your werewolf side, but that doesn't erase your witch heritage. Your mother was a very powerful witch, and she would have taught you this, but she couldn't, so I'm teaching you now. A triangle, in magic, creates an extremely powerful template for a spell. Antonia here has created such a template for us tonight, thank you Antonia."

She took back the salt and nodded for her assistant to begin the next step.

Davina moved on from the knife, setting it on the table and picking something else up.

"Hey, that's my—"

"A triangle," Davina continued over Leah, "drawn like this creates a structure so strong, so secure, that it demands to be completed. Complete two sides, and the third will complete itself—with a little help from me of course."

She came to stand at the head of the triangle. Antonia snuck up behind Hope, and taking her by the shoulders, moved her into place.

"What are you doing," Hope asked nervously. "Where are you moving me?"

"Just to your side of the triangle," Antonia hummed, positioning her along one edge of the chalk outline.

"There, now stay."

"Hey, wait—"

Hope tried to move but she couldn't; her feet were fixed in place, her toes on the edge of the marking on the ground.

"Why I can't I move?" She asked anyone who would listen.

"You, and Leah here, are going to help me complete the triangle. Antonia has fixed you in place, so you don't run off, sorry, I know, it's annoying. There will be five of you here tonight; the ritual will summon the sixth. Leah, stand there, please."

Leah really didn't have a choice with Pablo leering at her from his spot by the gargoyle.

She walked over to the edge across from Hope; they were sharing a corner of the triangle.

As soon as she was in place, she couldn't move her feet either.

"This is not cool, this is really weird, please tell me what is going on."

Davina dropped something on the ground next to Leah along the edge of her side of the triangle. It clanged on the stone and shone dull in the moonlight.

"Hey, that's my necklace! Davina where did you get that!?"

She reached down to grab it, but Davina stepped in between.

"Don't touch it. It's part of the triangle now. You don't have to do anything else but stand there until this is over, Leah. The others will do their part to help you complete your side."

"My side? Of the triangle?"

"The strongest bond is between a mother and child. That necklace represents the bond between you and your mother. Then there is Hope, and her mother Hayley, and Elijah and his mother, who is, technically, already here with us today."

Antonia handed something to Davina, who carefully set it down along the empty side of the triangle. It looked like another grimoire perhaps, but much, much older.

"This grimoire," Davina explained, surveying the set up so far, "represents the bond between Elijah and his mother. I just need Elijah to stand _there _for the ritual, and that side of the triangle will be complete."

Leah may have been lost when it came to geometry but this was making sense.

"So that's why you want Hope's mom? That's why you forced her to use magic, so the sire bond would drag her here?"

"Keep going," Davina coached from the empty side of the triangle. She crouched down, scratching out harsh runes with the chalk on the ground next to the grimoire.

"And the sire bond represents the link between Hope and her mom-it fuels their side of the triangle."

Davina popped back up, checking her spelling one last time.

"See Leah, what'd I always tell you: you are much smarter than you give yourself credit for."

Davina smiled at her kindly before returning to her place behind the altar, stepping carefully to avoid destroying the intricate saline shapes.

In the distance, they heard the sound of wheels spinning over gravel, a door slamming, frantic footsteps…

Hope's parents were here.

Elijah was here.

Davina was ready.

She had everything she needed—_everyone_ she needed.

"We're only waiting on one person now."

Leah was afraid to ask.

"Waiting for…who exactly?"

"Now, now, Leah, let's not get ahead of ourselves."


	32. No Church in the Wild

"Right on time."

Davina welcomed them from behind the safety of the barrier.

Klaus, Hayley and Elijah skidded into the stone square, stunned for a moment by its familiarity and equally unsettled by the bizarreness of the scene before them.

"What on earth—" Hayley gasped, hitting the invisible wall.

Elijah tested it with his hand, peering across the square at the girls—at Leah.

_If she has the bracelet on, that means she should at least remember who I am._

He searched for some confirmation, but all she gave him was a blinking stare before Davina spoke again.

"Nice for you to join us, Elijah, Hayley…._Klaus._"

"Well if it isn't the little witch, all grown up and still causing trouble."

Klaus was frozen on the edge of the square, Hayley and Elijah a step behind him. The three of them were unable to move further. If Klaus knew anything about witches, it was their annoying love of boundary spells and proclivity for creepy cemeteries.

Klaus hated this fucking cemetery, but not as much as Hayley.

"Take this barrier down, Davina," she threatened, "take it down, _now."_

"I will," Davina sang, gesturing to the triangle. "Once you agree to calmly and quietly make your way to your places."

Hayley didn't appreciate being spoken to like a kid in time-out.

"_What places?"_

"On the triangle," she motioned. "I need you and Elijah to help me complete the triangle."

Was this for real? Or had they taken a wrong turn and wandered onto the set of Sesame Street?

"What do you mean you need us? Did you lead us here…on purpose…using my daughter? Davina, have you lost your mind? What do you want with her?"

"She…and you, form one side of the triangle."

Klaus' already short fuse was burning dangerously low.

"Why the bloody hell do you keep going on about triangles?"

"Well, if you let me explain…"

While Davina talked, Leah took the opportunity to lock eyes with Elijah.

It seemed like forever since she had seen him last.

Though it had only been a month, she could feel it, looking at him now: a gulf had opened between them in the space of weeks; some other girl's life filled the void. She felt the need to reclaim herself, and reclaim him: On the one hand, she wanted to pull him under the covers and come up for air several days later.

On the other hand, the drinking, the partying, the sleeping around; it didn't matter what Hope had said, that was not a part of her anymore and yet he had pulled her skeletons from her closet and made them dance.

He had compelled her to forget about everything she always wanted to remember. And though her memories might be back, it wasn't a simple thing to pick up where they had left off.

Something was still missing: a cohesiveness, a continuity, the ability to know that what you feel is really what you feel. She was having enough trouble with her emotions without being compelled; seeing Elijah there, on the other side of the barrier, was making her feel some strange shit.

All she wanted to do was finish up this weird ass family reunion thing so she could get started on the 99 other things she needed to do - numbers 10-56 being Elijah.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Leah finally answered the question he was asking her with his concerned stare.

_I'm fine_, she mouthed back.

She pulled up the sleeve to show him the bracelet, motioning to Hope with a slight tilt of her head.

Next to him, Hayley was drowning out whatever Davina was going on about. She fixed her eyes on Hope through the barrier. Hope gave her mom a little nod, trying to assure her that she wasn't in any immediate danger but she would rather not be here, if that was all possible.

Nothing was impossible for Hayley Marshall.

"Hope, I will get you out of…whatever this is…you just stay put until I can get to you."

"It's not like I'm going anywhere, _mom,_ I am literally… stuck to this triangle."

It was then that Elijah noticed that Leah and Hope were standing along the edge of a large geometric design. Objects were scattered along the edge as well: something gold and metallic on a chain, and something uncomfortably familiar along the other.

"Is that…_my mother's grimoire_?"

All eyes fell upon the tattered-bound book along the triangle's empty edge.

Davina was dying to show them how clever she was.

"Wanna know how I got it?"

Every muscle in Elijah's body tensed, fears tucked away years ago resurfacing; nothing involving his mother would ever end well.

"Please, enlighten us, how did you come into possession of the very item Niklaus had informed me was _securely locked away_."

Klaus didn't miss the incrimination in his brother's tone.

"Marcel," Davina almost couldn't help but blurt out. "You guys really should choose better hiding places."

Klaus' hit list was growing by the hour.

"Oh, so Marcel is also a part of this carnival show. I should have known," Klaus darkly postulated, "older siblings who are jealous of their younger ones often… act out. It's the attention—_they crave it._"

"I'm not here to harm Hope," Davina repeated, frowning. "And Marcel is only helping me because he knows that too."

Elijah took over for his brother.

"Forgive us if we are slow to believe you, Davina, but you have lured us here, stolen our mother's grimoire, and appear to be using these girls is some…full moon ritual? So, please, give us a reason why _we _should not harm _you_."

"Well, for one, you can't get past that barrier. My thanks to Antonia for that one."

Antonia waved from her spot beside Pablo.

Klaus was so overcome by anger that he forgot the barrier was in place and ran straight into it in his effort to tear off Pablo's head.

Hayley and Hope shared similar looks; Elijah hid his embarrassment in his hands.

"Niklaus, perhaps it is wise to prioritize the issue at present."

Klaus began to pace aggressively back and forth behind the barrier.

"I will kill _them all, _Elijah."

"In time, but right now I would like to know, why you, Davina Claire, are expressly violating the treaty by practicing magic on the full moon."

"Really, that's the thing you're gonna focus on? Me breaking curfew?"

"It's a place to start. Since I can't seem to get a straight answer from you, let's take this one step at a time."

"I don't see what your issue is, Elijah. Hayley bought me your amendment; you said I could be in the Quarter on a full moon. You signed it and everything."

"I did no such thing."

"No?"

Davina looked to Hayley and Elijah followed her gaze.

Hayley shrugged, throwing her hands up in an open gesture.

"Okay, so we've all been keeping some stuff from each other…you can yell at me later Elijah, right now we're…prioritizing, remember."

Ignoring Hayley and Niklaus' complete disregard for Faction policy, Elijah nevertheless continued his diplomatic approach with Davina.

"You have the floor, Davina, we are listening. Now please, _explain_ what is going on here."

"Twenty years ago the witches wanted to bring back you mother."

Elijah shifted his weight, gesturing that she had his complete attention.

"Continue."

"I found this out and I told you, I told you that if you killed Gen then the Harvest magic would return to the ancestors and the witches would just use that power to resurrect Esther."

"And you told me what I had to do to prevent that."

"That's right…every girl, every family…even mine."

"Then this can hardly be some revenge plot," he concluded, motioning to Hope and Leah, still bound to the triangle.

"It's not. Just hear me out: Gen and I ...communicated the year she was in hiding."

"You did what?" Hayley barked. "You _knew where she was that whole time?"_

Klaus had long since worked himself up into a frenzy.

"I should have known that little girl act was all for show. You lived under our protection, in our home, and at the same time you were working with _our _enemy? Davina, _Davina,_ the double agent. I take it that all the information you fed us was codswallop?"

"Why'd you think it took so long for you to finally track Gen down?"

"_You doubled crossed us…"_

"Like you would have set aside your revenge crusade for a pregnant lady."

"A pregnant _witch_, Davina, who, since it seems you have forgotten, kidnapped my child and tried to kill her…on the very altar you now stand behind. So you listen to me: I am not a fan of history repeating, Davina. Harm my family and you die, slowly and painfully, and I don't care who you are, there are deeds in this world that are quite unforgivable."

He threw her a very pointed, very threatening look.

"For the millionth time, Klaus, no one is going to get hurt tonight—I of all people am not one for killing kids. Leah was an_ innocent _child, Klaus. I don't understand how you still don't get that by now. If I hadn't feed you all that bad information, you would have killed them both."

_I'm standing right here_, Leah thought defensively. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling everyone's eyes on her.

"You are quite right," Klaus confessed proudly. "I would have killed Genevieve, and the baby. Or more accurately, Hayley here would have done it. She was on quite the bender back then, if you recall."

"I remember," Davina almost hissed, "you don't have to tell me."

Elijah tried to check his brother before he provoked Davina into lashing out.

"Niklaus, let's aim for cooperation and understanding, shall we? I'm sure Davina means the girls no harm, let's hear her out."

Davina had enough of him as well.

"I agree; it's time for you to talk less and listen more, Klaus. So why don't you take a seat."

With a raise of her hand, Davina threw Klaus into the side of one of the vaults that lined the square. It crumpled apart on impact, throwing dust and bits of brick into the clear night air. The hybrid slipped to the ground only to find that he couldn't stand back up again.

"_Davina, I will—"_

"Shh, shhh," she hushed him, silencing him with her hand and a spell. "Seen but not heard, please."

Elijah turned to Davina, impressed but even more wary.

"That is not quite what I had in mind, Davina," Elijah commented, although he did not entirely disapprove.

Turning back to Elijah and Hayley, Davina lifted both hands and brought down the barrier.

"A sign of good faith." She added, remaining behind the altar. "Don't make me regret it."

Elijah spared Leah a glance, before taking a cautious step closer to the triangle, an arm raised protectively in Hope's direction.

"Davina, you will explain what you are doing here. And know well, that despite what you have said about not wishing to harm anyone, I do not at all appreciate you threatening my niece."

"You will start talking or I will rip your head off," Hayley added, helping in her own way.

Davina lowered her hand.

"Please, take your places and I promise, I will explain everything."

Elijah decided to play along, finally stepping across the deactivated boundary and into the square proper.

"Very well, Davina, where would you have us?"

Antonia came forth to show them the way. She motioned for Hayley to stand next to Hope on their side of the triangle. Once in place, she grasped Hope's hand. Hope let her.

Elijah was shepherded across from Leah. He stood on the chalk line next to his mother's grimoire.

"Are we now part of your… ritual?"

"Yes, and thank you for being so mature about it, Elijah. I could always count on you for that, even if you're just as much of a manipulative liar as the rest of them."

Leah didn't know if it was appropriate to laugh at that.

She found herself raising her hand, though she didn't wait for Davina to call on her.

"I think I speak on behalf of everyone here when I ask, are we going to be done here by last call?"

Davina was not amused.

"Leah, why are you being so unhelpful? This is for you, I'm doing all of this for you."

"Doing what for me? _What are you doing?"_

"Leah, didn't you read your mother's letter?"

"Well, yeah, lots of words but they didn't really say anything, you know? It's hard to take anything some woman I never met tells me too seriously."

"I thought you wanted a mother."

"No, I wanted answers. There's a difference. Anyone can give me answers."

"Well, I'm giving you both," Davina said smugly, checking the time. "You see, we have one, two, three, four, five, so far, but the sixth person is missing. Once I start the spell, once the moon reaches its apex, then the triangle will complete itself, even if it must bring someone back from the dead to do so. Just like Gen and I planned: she comes back first… then she brings back the others."


	33. Things We Lost in the Fire

Leah was sure she looked like a complete idiot standing there with her mouth hanging open but Davina's confession had knocked her higher-level brain functioning out of commission for a moment and it took her a second to remember even how to talk.

"_You're resurrecting my mother?!"_

Davina checked the time once again, sighing; all these questions were starting to annoy her.

"I'm sorry, did we read the same letter? Yes, Leah, I'm bringing her back. I thought you would be happier. Marcel was right, kids are so ungrateful these days."

Leah could barely get her thoughts to come out as sounds. Everyone else in the circle looked equally as startled by the news, though Hayley looked particularly distressed.

"Mom, you're squeezing my hand too tightly, it hurts."

"I'm sorry, honey," Hayley apologized; all the while staring Leah down like this was her fault.

_Well, okay, maybe it was a little bit her fault._

Apparently the mere fact of her existence was still a touchy issue.

Elijah had an issue of his own to address.

"Davina, I trust your counting, but you do realize that my mother is also not in attendance. I do hope for your sake you do not intend to bring her back as well."

Davina was still staring at her watch, sparing Elijah only a cursory glance.

"No need to get all worked up, Elijah; your mother's bones were consecrated, she is now part of the ancestors of this Quarter. So don't worry, she is in fact already here—all the ancestors are, present and accounted for."

That didn't exactly make anyone feel any better about the current situation.

Hayley especially.

"So that's why you told us not to allow Genevieve to be buried within the boundary of the city—so that you could drag her un-consecrated soul back from hell and with it some…what…some friends of yours?"

"Friends of yours too, once upon a time."

"Not in the mood for Guess Who, Davina," Hayley announced. "Who are these "friends" we're talking about?"

"Do you even remember him, Hayley?"

"Obviously not since I just asked and I'll ask again, _who Davina_?"

"He came to you as a negotiator, Hayley; he was just acting as a neutral go-between… but I guess no one ever told you that you're not supposed to _kill the messenger."_

Oh, _that incident._

"Ah, of course, this is about Josh."

"_Josh who you promised was under your protection."_

Hayley scratched her head bashfully.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't quite myself then."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"Yes, Davina, it is. Shit happens and then we move on."

"Then why can't you move on and forgive Gen?"

Hayley spoke slow and dangerous, pointing a finger at Davina in warning.

"You are incredibly lucky right now that I can't move from this damn triangle…"

"I'm serious, Hayley, Hope is alive and well… and Gen was forced to do those things. You can't be mad at her now."

"The hell I can."

"And what about Cami? You don't want to see her come back?"

"You can't possibly be blaming me for Cami too - you do remember that it was Gen who killed her, right? The same Gen you now want to bring back – or have I missed some part of this ridiculous plan of yours?"

"Gen didn't want to kill Cami, she didn't want to do any of it. "

Hayley was exhausted with dealing with Davina and whatever magical tantrum she was about to unleash; twenty years older but in truth, Davina hadn't aged a day.

"But she did, she did do it," Hayley threw out in frustration, "and it's sad about Josh and Cami, but that was over twenty years ago, Davina, you gotta let it go."

"Well I haven't let it go, and I haven't forgotten them, and I'm gonna bring them back."

"How—by using my daughter and a compelled werewolf?"

Leah raised her hand sheepishly.

"Not compelled anymore, actually."

Elijah looked at her across the triangle with such intensity that it didn't really matter that she was wearing any clothes—she felt naked under his gaze.

"You remember—_everything_?"

She folded her arms over her chest, indignant at the injury.

"Yeah, Mr. I-would-like-to-donate-a-million-dollars-to-the-school, I remember, no thanks to you, I might add."

"How?"

"How what? How'd I get all my memories back? Hope. She's just fantastic, _really_-she can quite literally do anything she puts her mind to."

Davina knew that sarcastic tone meant Leah felt hurt; she automatically slipped into mentoring mode.

"I'm sure he had his reasons, Leah-"

"Whoa, you stay out of this, Davina, like you're any better. Sure, you didn't have to compel me, but that's because you just straight up lied to me. You know what I remember? I remember that everyone knew who my mom was and didn't think that was something I should know, oh yeah, and I also remember that no one felt the need to tell me I was a fucking werewolf, yes Davina, _a fucking werewolf,_ I said it."

She was on a roll; anyone who was up for it was going to get a thick slice of truth.

Apparently Elijah was up for seconds.

"Leah, perhaps we can discuss this at home—"

"_Home_, Elijah? Okay, tell me: where's that? My dorm room? The apartment I rent from my drug dealer friend? The Compound-slash-nightclub you run the Faction out of? _Your house_, Hope?"

Hope threw up her hands, wondering how the hell she got pulled into this argument.

"Or is my home the _orphanage_ where you, Davina, lied to me for eighteen years, the orphanage that I got sent to after _your mom_, Hope, killed _my mom_. Crazy, right, no wonder we're such good friends! You know, I guess it is true what they say, 'if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.' I mean, how else did I find myself here tonight, right?"

"Leah, you probably should calm down—"

"Yeah, I probably should do a lot of things, Hope. Like maybe I should pack my bags and get the hell out of this fucking city—"

"That would be nice," Hayley deadpanned.

"Hayley, please," Elijah tried, holding up a hand for silence. "Leah, we have all been lied to and therefore we are all in the same boat; let's see this through to the end and then," he fixed her with his eyes, "then _we_ will talk."

"Talk is cheap—especially around here."

Davina saved him from the response he didn't have.

"I'm sorry, Leah, some of this is my fault, especially the werewolf bit. I don't know who your father is, I'm sorry, but I did know he was from a werewolf bloodline. I needed to strengthen the triangle any way I could, to give the ritual a better chance for success. So on top of drawing from three material bonds, I also wanted to draw from the convergence of three supernatural species: vampire, hybrid, and - since I don't have a living witch in the circle - I had to go with a werewolf."

Elijah was off the hook only because Davina had just earned the top space on her shit list.

"So you turned me into a werewolf…_for your dumb spell?"_

"It's not a dumb spell, I've already told you, it's only helping people."

"What dictionary do you people get your definitions from? How is this _helping_ anyone?"

"I'm bringing back people who didn't deserve to die—Josh, Cami, your mother—and it's not a dumb spell."

"_It is_ a dumb spell, Davina, you've got people standing on a giant triangle and you are standing in the middle of a pile of salt."

Davina shook her head, checking her watch again.

"I knew you were going to be difficult, Leah, you always have been, since you were small. I am trying to help you-did you know I had to put a disillusionment spell on you every year because you looked so much like your mother? There are people out there who want you dead, Leah. I was hiding you, protecting you, and I'm protecting you now. The least you could do is not fight me every step of the way. Luckily, I had Pablo and Antonia here to help me get you in line for tonight."

"_Luckily? _Davina, I nearly died…twice…nope, wait…_three times."_

"Don't be so dramatic, Leah. Two sides of the triangle are complete, once I start the spell, the third side will complete itself. I don't think you get it—this ritual will bring back your mother—the triangle demands to be completed."

Leah was yelling again.

"You're not listening, Davina, I don't _want_ my mother back. And I'm sorry about your friends, but do you really think they want to come back either? I don't even like to be woken up from a nap, imagine being dragged out of Heaven or whatever weepy cloud place people go to when they die."

"Leah, why do you have to be so sulky and rude all the time? You're just like Hayley, you know that, right? No wonder Elijah's so taken with you."

Everyone go really quiet. Elijah and Hayley were looking anywhere but at each other.

_Okay…_

"Elijah, what does she mean?"

Elijah remained silent

"Anyone want to answer that? On the board…Hayley and Elijah backstory for 500?"

Hayley remained silent.

"I actually really want to know too," Hope spoke up, staring down her mother.

Elijah and Hayley shared a look across the triangle.

He began but Hayley had the last word.

"Hayley and I—"

"—we dated for a while, ahem, your uncle and I…just a bit, before you were born…and then a bit after…like a couple…months after…"

For a second, you could hear the crickets.

"MOM, ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?"

Leah was rubbing her temples.

"Okay, maybe it was better when I was compelled and couldn't remember how fucked up this family is, I mean…_Jesus Christ,_ Elijah, way to keep me in the dark. I mean, _just wow._"

"See, Leah, I'd don't understand why you are so mad at me when everyone has been lying to you. Go on, ask Elijah, I'm sure he will tell you he was just trying to _protect you._ We're all liars here."

Talking to Davina allowed her not to have to even deal with Elijah right now.

"_Is that supposed to make me feel better?"_

"It's supposed to make you stop overacting to me trying to help you."

"As someone who just spent the last month compelled to forget the last _year_," a pointed look at Elijah, _"_forgive me if I'm overreacting to being forced to participate in your witch scheme...thing…whatever the hell this is."

Davina ignored her. It was time.

"I'd love to chat more about why you're all mad at me, but the moon has reached its apex. I have to start, I have to do it now."

"_Davina, don't-"_

Davina ignored Hayley and pulled something small from her backpack pocket before throwing it on the ground behind the altar. Crushing the small vials in her left hand, she painted her finger in the blood before tracing patterns of circles and squares on the flat of the stone table. Drawing the knife across her open palm, she let the drops of blood fall onto the altar, commencing the ritual.

A wind began to howl.

"_Davina, stop-"_

She began to chant, activating each ingredient, each bond, each side of the triangle so that the ritual could truly start.

But before the spell could begin, it came to an abrupt and unexpected end.

With a sweep of her leg like a ballerina, Antonia ran her foot through the salt lines, destroying the designs that were channeling the magic for the spell.

The wind immediately dissolved into the stillness of the night.

Davina stopped chanting, turning aggressively on her assistant.

"_What have you done, Antonia?"_

"Change of plans, I'm afraid."

"Are you serious? We've worked _years _to plan this, for this night, for right now. _What are you doing?"_

Antonia was hastily destroying the salt lines that surrounded the stone table; she spoke, continuing until all the salt was crushed into the ground.

"You haven't figured that one out yet? Do the math—there are two people missing from this six-person geometry problem. Genevieve is one; I'm not interested in resurrecting some has-been pacifist witch who just wants everyone to be one big happy family. Quite the opposite, in fact—I'm going to complete the Reaping and I'm going to use the power of this triangle for a _real _purpose – to finally free my people and everyone else in this town, from your pretentious, patronizing, patriarchal treaty… _Elijah_."

Everyone turned to look at him, even Leah.

"The treaty," she asked. "This is about the Faction?"

Elijah's eyes narrowed, his jaw twitching in annoyance.

"No, this is about witches who don't know when they've been defeated. I suppose you are hijacking Davina's ritual? For what purpose, to impeach me from office? Do you really think you, or your scattered coven of disenfranchised witches, will be able to overthrow me?"

Antonia had the Morton's in her hands again and was redrawing shapes on the ground - a new pattern for a new spell.

"No, I don't Elijah, that's why I'm hijacking this ritual and bringing back the one witch who will put all you Mikaelsons in your place, once and for all.

"You wouldn't dare—"

"Oh, I would. I'm bringing back Esther, and that means, Leah, I'm very sorry, but you're gonna have to die."


	34. Embers

_Well this was certainly an unwelcomed surprise_.

Not that Leah had time to really take it in; everyone had started yelling at everyone else and the square was echoing with hostile shouts and hissed accusations.

_Shut up_, she wanted to yell.

_Shut up._

_Shut up._

_Shut up!_

It was Leah's life on the line, but as usual, everyone else had something to say about it.

Well, everyone except Klaus that is; he was still enjoying Davina's time-out in silence in the corner.

Elijah was able to silence the square only because he yelled the loudest; he certainly sounded the angriest for that matter.

"Davina, you will account for this witch Antonia, is what she says true—is it possible?"

Davina stopped yelling at Antonia mid-sentence to answer Elijah. Now that her ritual had been hijacked, she found herself needing Elijah on her side if she was ever going to get it back on track in time; the easiest way to do this was to use his affection for Leah, which wasn't at all hard, given the fact that if Antonia succeeded, Leah would be dead.

"Yes, it's possible, if Leah—"

"_What," _his voice rolled sternly, "does Leah have to do with this?"

Davina was in dangerous water. She needed to tell Elijah the truth; as she was learning of late, secrets and lies were a poor way to build trust.

The problem was, the truth would definitely only antagonize him further.

But she had to give it a try.

"The residual Harvest magic is," Davina began slowly, "it's in Leah. Gen and I—we found a way to take it from her and put it in her daughter. A hiding place, so to speak, until we might need it later. Without the magic in her, Gen was already dying when you got to her. But that was part of the plan too, we found a way to put the magic in Leah and then I would use it to bring her and Josh and Cami back, that was the original plan."

"Why am I not surprised," Hayley muttered loudly. "I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you, Leah, these witches sure like to fuck people over…even their own people it appears."

"Mom, stop, you're not helping," Hope whined, pulling her hand from her mother's at last. She turned to Leah with a sympathetic gesture.

"Leah, did you know this? Did you know you had Harvest magic in you?"

Leah barely had the energy for a sarcastic response; too exhausted to really care anymore, her answer came out flat and tired.

"Nope, I didn't know. Though I don't think anything can even surprise me anyone: if I'm actually a unicorn, spare me and just tell me that now too, please."

"You couldn't know, no one could-that's why I bound your powers, Leah, as soon as you arrived on our steps, or any powers you would have had. It doesn't matter now though—once you triggered your werewolf gene, _you _can no longer access the Harvest magic, even if you wanted to—you can't be both a witch and a werewolf at the same time."

Hope started to protest but then shut her mouth; it wouldn't have helped anyway.

Davina was still fuming at Antonia, who was now behind the altar redrawing the sacred designs on the stone table with a smug smile. She tried to smooth this over with Leah.

"Leah, it doesn't make me happy to have to tell you all of this, especially since there's no point in me telling you this anymore: Like I said, to all of you, I don't want to harm anyone—so I found another plan, I found a way around having to hurt you…"

"Hurt me? Davina, I'm an adult, you can use the big words: why did Antonia say I had to _die_?"

"I said it doesn't matter anymore, I found a way around it—"

Elijah's voice was so menacing it echoed like distant thunder.

"_Tell her everything, Davina. _She deserves to know everything."

While Davina was paralyzed under Elijah's gaze, Antonia took the opportunity to begin setting up for her new ritual. Having reworked the salt, she now polished Davina's blood off the large knife she had left on the altar.

Davina felt like she was on the witness stand; Elijah was a particularly aggressive advocate, not to say that was at all surprising: he was advocating for Leah after all.

"_Tell her everything, Davina."_

_Objection! _Bullying the witness.

Davina just wasn't sure if she was a witness for the defense or the prosecution.

Either way, she wasn't going to lie, not anymore at least.

"The original plan required that we…sacrifice you in order to access the leftover Harvest magic and be able to use it tonight, to bring back your mother. I'd use the residual magic to bring Gen back, then Gen would bring everyone back-Josh, Cami, _and you."_

_Okay, maybe there was one thing that could still surprise her._

"Back _from the dead_?" Leah croaked. "That was an actual plan? Like, you sat down and planned this out and everyone at the table still thought it was a good idea?"

"But you would come back, Leah, we planned that too—"

"You and my mom wanted to kill me? Just so that you could bring back your friends, Davina?"

"And you mother."

"I don't want my mother back. I want my _life _back."

Davina knew Leah so well; she knew she was on the verge of tears because all the edge had left her voice.

In response, Davina lowered her own voice to a maternal hum.

"It took me twenty years, but I found a way to perform the ritual without having to hurt you, Leah, please believe me. That's what you're standing on, the triangle ritual—it's a substitution. If we use the power of the triangle, and the full moon, and the three supernatural species, _and _the three maternal bonds, then we don't need the Harvest magic. Even Antonia knows this, that's why she volunteered to help tonight—_or so I thought_."

"Or so you thought indeed," Antonia chimed, setting the polished knife back on the table and placing Davina's tagged grimoire up next to it. "And I'm all for your no-kill, organic ritual Davina, but the truth is, if you want results, accept no substitutions."

Davina looked up at the moon; it had already begun to slip from its zenith. If she could keep Antonia talking, if she could keep Leah and Elijah taking, then maybe she could stall them long enough that the moon would pass its apex and render Antonia's disastrous plan null and void.

It would also mean losing the one chance she had to bring back Josh and Cami.

It was a hard but easy choice; she kept stalling for time.

"Leah, let's talk about this, how are you feeling right now? Confused? Betrayed?"

Aggravated by her sudden nonchalance, Elijah decided it was past time to end this charade.

"Davina, release us from this triangle."

"I can't…it's not my spell, it's Antonia's spell. So we might as well talk, because there's nothing any of us can do now…so Leah, I can understand if you are feeling hurt right now…"

"Don't try that mentoring shit on me, that train has left the station. But if you want to know, yeah, I am feeling a little _hurt _right now, because the woman who basically _raised me _had plans to stab me in the back, literally, so yeah, _Davina_, to say my feelings are hurt is the fucking understatement of the century."

It was hard to tell who was more furious: Leah, or Elijah.

"Are you telling me, Davina, that all those years she was at St. Ann's, you were raising a lamb for the slaughter? How is this possible? You yourself told me, if I ended the bloodlines the Harvest magic was finished, done, over... it could never be reaped."

"Not _never_…it would just delay it, so to speak, so yes, Elijah… I lied," Davina shrugged. "I lied to you and it was that easy and I'm not sorry I did. Gen wasn't a monster; she wasn't like Monique and the others. The ancestors _forced_ her to take Hope; Esther _forced_ her to do what she did. But you guys were just so wrapped up in the moment that you wouldn't listen to reason. It's always 'my way or the highway' with you people, the only morality you follow is your own."

"Are you telling me, you don't get what you want and so you throw a tantrum, is that what this is, Davina?" Hayley growled. "Like Klaus says, some people just don't have the sense to stay dead."

"Haven't you learned, Hayley, you're not the only person on this earth with a daughter. Everyone has a right to protect their child."

Hayley just shrugged, taking Hope by the hand again.

"And what, you think Esther's gonna 'protect' you lot once you've brought her back?"

Antonia cut in, still working on resetting the ritual.

"Esther is the only one strong enough to rid this city of you Mikaelsons—screw treaties and negotiations and begging for scraps of our dignity back. This is our town; this has always been the witches' town. And for that reason, I have stopped Davina's attempt to _not hurt anyone_, and I'm going to start the spell again, while the moon is still up, and this time, let's do it right, shall we?"

"I can't let you do this," Davina interjected. "If you want the Mikaelsons out of this city, then do it the right way, go to the Faction meetings and work – together - to make this a better place—for everyone. If you bring back Esther, she will kill them all."

"And...?"

"If you kill them, you kill every vampire, Antonia. Marcel—"

"Really, Davina? This is about Marcel? See this is why the witches would never follow you; you've entangled your life far too much with the vampires. You may have held the pieces in this game, but the vision was ours, Davina, and the witches of the Quarter play a long game indeed. Twenty years we have been waiting for this night, to finally complete the Reaping. You are still such a child, Davina, and you still think the small dreams of children. Use the magic of the Harvest to bring back your friends? What are friends compared to the needs of your _family, _Davina?"

Antonia slowly moved from behind the altar, dragging her hands along its smooth surface until her palm came in contact with the hilt of the knife.

She advanced upon Davina, one step at a time.

"'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.' Do you know what that means, Davina? It means that although we are not sisters, you and I, we are sisters in magic. The witches are your family and you turned your back on them, to side with the Mikaelsons, to abandon us to suffer the sanctions of the treaty, to renounce magic for some childish wish to be a normal girl. But you're not normal, Davina, and you never will be."

Davina turned to retreat but Pablo grabbed her, pinning her arms behind her back.

"_Antonia—"_

Antonia raised the knife.

"Shh, don't worry, Davina. I will take this burden away from you. I will complete the Reaping, at long last, as it should have been done 21 years ago. You want to be with your friends, Gen, and Cami—and Josh? Okay, that's fine, _then go be with them._"

She plunged the knife into Davina's middle, pulling up violently before letting go of the hilt.

Leah screamed; Hope hid her face in her mother's neck; Elijah turned away.

Davina crumpled to the ground.

In a heartbeat, Antonia yanked the knife from Davina's body and grabbed Leah by the back of her jacket, pulling her away from and out of the bond of the triangle's magic.

"Time to finish this once and for all, Leah. You know how this works. Do you believe in the Harvest?"

"_Like hell I do! Let me go!"_

Leah struggled and squirmed as Antonia dragged her toward the altar.

But in her haste to get to Leah, Antonia had forgotten one very important thing.

With Davina dead, the spell on the hybrid was lifted.

In two heartbeats, he had snatched Pablo from the sidelines, dragging him out into the open.

The others could not move, still glued to their spots, entangled in the magic of the triangle. They could only watch as speechless spectators as Klaus and Antonia squared off.

Klaus had the Pablo by the throat; his eyes glowed hybrid gold.

"Let him go."

"You first, sweetheart."

Hope looked at her mother desperately; Hayley hugged her close, trying to shield her from what was certainly not going to be a pretty ending.

Elijah was in agony; he did not know whom he was more concerned would ruin this delicate situation: Antonia…or his brother.

"Niklaus, listen to her, _please."_

"Negotiate with terrorists, brother? I think not."

All the paranoia, worry and wrath of the last month was crashing down upon Klaus. Pablo would die, that was a sure fact, he and every one of his Guerrera brothers.

But he would make Antonia suffer first.

Klaus tightened his grip and the werewolf howled in pain. He wasn't one to play games, any other situation and he wouldn't hesitate to strike the boy down, but this was different; the sound of his brother's wavering voice, his brother's desperate pleas, were causing slow hesitancy to creep into his hands.

This was an awfully unfortunate situation.

Antonia had Leah by the hair.

"Go on, kill her now, resurrect my mother, you will do so without the aid of your fiancé."

"Let him go, Klaus, let him go or _I will kill her."_

"It's your choice, _little witch_," he spat. "But tick tock, _tempus fugit_."

Klaus continued to goad her on.

"In mere minutes, the moon will be past its apex and you will have lost your chance to bring back our mother. And then I will kill Pablo here and you will have lost _everything."_

Antonia dragged Leah further back, keeping the knife aloft in her hand.

"How about this, Klaus. Let him go and I, on behalf of the witches of this city, will let you cut a deal, a plea bargain so to speak. Give Pablo to me, and you and your family can leave our town in peace. Just walk on out, and never come back."

"Not bloody likely."

"Deal's on the table; clock's ticking."

Antonia held up the knife; Leah was clutching at her head, straining to find her footing.

_People respond best to displays of violence_, Klaus had always believed.

And he stood by it even now.

"You cannot _manipulate _me, witch. This is _our _city, this is _my city."_

As the moon slipped away, Klaus dug his fangs into Pablo and ripped out his throat.

There was a lot of screaming, from Hope and from Hayley and from Elijah, it was hard to tell their voices apart.

But one of the voices was definitely Leah's as Antonia bought the knife down and across her throat.

Elijah knew that she was dead as he felt himself released from the triangle. Antonia didn't even have time to drop the knife before her heart rolled several feet away from her body. Driven by the compulsion of the sire bond, Hayley had Leah in her arms before she could hit the ground.

Klaus was wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't really get what Elijah was going on about now in his ear.

"_This is your fault, Niklaus—"_

He'd heard that a million times before.

"_How could you-?"_

Eh.

_"—and this is the result of you selfish scheming."_

That's not new either.

Klaus looked down at Hayley holding Leah. Hope might have been crying; she was looking at him with the meanest scowl—it really confused him.

He turned back to his brother, gesturing to Antonia's heartless body.

"It's over, Elijah, good work there with that one-the threat that is our mother is now all but an irritating memory."

In three heartbeats, Elijah shoved Klaus into the side of a mausoleum; the cement cracked and fell away in chunks.

"All you had to do was stall her, Niklaus, _delay her_ long enough for the ritual to be rendered ineffective, that's all you had to do _to save her, to save Leah!_ Could you not, _for once, for me_... set aside your pointless revenge scheme and for once in your life, think through something before you acted on your…_bestial impulses? If not for me, not even for Hope?"_

Hope was bent low beside her mother, who was still holding Leah; she was desperately trying to tell Hayley something, pulling up her sleeve to show her mom.

Elijah still had Klaus roughly by the shirt.

"Hope was never in danger," Elijah spat out. "This wasn't about her, this was about _Leah._"

"Elijah, we've been down this road before, _trust me_, you'll get over it...her... whatever. Let's not lose sight of the bigger picture—_we've won."_

"No one wins with you, Niklaus, and this time—_this time_— I will not forget what you have done and I will run you out of this town myself if I must and that is not a threat, _that is a promise, brother."_

A dark smile was growing across Klaus' face; he slipped his free hand into his jacket pocket.

"Oh, I don't doubt you for one second, _brother."_

With an upward thrust, Klaus buried the silver dagger into Elijah's chest.

**AN: Heyyyyyy, so…. **


	35. Sons and Daughters

**AN: Ugh, this chapter messed me up. Writing is masochistic. **

The first thing he saw when he woke was Hayley.

"Hey," she whispered softly, shaking the dagger at him, "welcome back."

They were at the plantation house, in his room. It was dark, very dark. The only light was streaming in from the hallway through the open door.

"Hayley?" Elijah stuttered, his mind slowly clearing from its forced slumber. "What day is it?"

"It's the same day but…it's late. Klaus had you out for nearly 24 hours."

He blinked, pulling himself into a sitting position, groaning at the stiffness in his limbs.

Hayley set a hand on his shoulder, easing him back into the pillows.

"Hey, take it easy."

She dropped the dagger on the side table, using both hands to pull Elijah's jacket off, trying to make him as comfortable as possible before his memories came flooding back and he became a juggernaut of raw emotion.

She waited a moment, patiently in silence, until he remembered.

He did remember, vividly.

_Leah._

"Where is she, _where is she_, Hayley?"

She placed a hand on his chest, forcing him back down onto the bed.

"Elijah, please, calm down, Klaus is right under us."

His thoughts were getting tangled before they could be spoken; his longing for Leah was clashing with the fury his brother's name enflamed within him.

"He daggered me rather than face me, the coward."

She kept a hand firmly on his chest, forcing him to look at her.

"I'm not disagreeing with you, Elijah, but now is not the time to go after Klaus."

That's right, she was right, there were more important things.

_Leah._

He repeated his words while his mind repeated the scene from the cemetery.

"Where is she, Hayley?"

"She's downstairs. We have her on the couch."

"You bought her back?"

_You bought her body back._

"Of course," Hayley breathed, offended. "And before you ask, I did it myself, without the compulsion of the sire bond. I wasn't going to leave her body in that cemetery."

She took his hand, turning it upright.

"Open your hand, Elijah, I'm giving this back to you."

She dropped Leah's bracelet into his open palm.

He ran his thumb over the silver braid, the dull black stone.

"Who took it off her?" Elijah growled, his eyes still on the sterling bangle.

Hayley proceeded carefully.

"Klaus did. He said…he said she wouldn't need it anymore. He's…he's very angry right now. In fact, he doesn't know I removed the dagger. I think he had plans to keep it in you for…a while."

As she expected, Elijah lurched out of bed to go after his brother; the bracelet fell abandoned on the wooden floor in his haste. Hayley flashed, beating him to the door, pinning him to the wall with her hybrid strength with an arm across the chest.

"Listen, _Elijah,_ I know you are angry, and I know you are hurting, and you deserve to beat up Klaus…he's been a massive dick, sure, but _not now, _Elijah. There is a time for everything, and right now, Hope is down there, and she is grieving, and Klaus is her father, so for her sake, leave Klaus alone."

Elijah was giving Hayley a look that no mere mortal would have survived.

"_For her sake_, Hayley? I doubt my brother was even considering Hope when he let that witch-when he-"

"Elijah, listen to me."

"Get out of my way, Hayley."

"Elijah, there's something you need to know—"

He wrestled her arm from his chest, but she was now blocking the door. Frustrated beyond belief, Elijah loosened his tie, yanking it off and tossing it haphazardly on the floor beside the forgotten bracelet.

"_Hayley, move."_

Pushing her aside, he was halfway out the door before she stopped him in his tracks.

"Elijah, I un-daggered you because _Leah asked for you_."

He had to grab on to the doorframe to steady himself; his legs had nearly given out at her words.

"Hayley, what do you mean she asked for me? Leah is—"

_Leah is…_

He couldn't say the words, but he didn't have to; Hayley knew what he meant and was eager to prove him wrong.

"Not exactly—Elijah, Leah's downstairs…she had Hope's blood in her system when she died."

/

The clock in the kitchen was counting down the minutes 'til midnight when Elijah entered the front room.

The good news: Leah was indeed alive.

She appeared to be nodding off, her pale face resting on her praying hands, her ruined coat balled up under her like a pillow.

She was looking right at him, but he wasn't sure she saw.

"Leah…"

Was she still dreaming? She couldn't tell.

"Leah. _Leah."_

She raised her head sleepily, though it felt heavy and stiff. Her eyes didn't seem to want to open any wider.

He was out of her dream and standing before her.

"_Elijah?_"

Yes, this was better than a dream.

"Elijah!"

He didn't ask questions: not how, not when, not why, not _now._

Crossing the room in eager, desperate strides, Elijah threw himself on the sofa, scooped Leah up in his arms, and began to plant kisses from her hair to her hand.

"Elijah, you're smothering me," she giggled through dewed eyes.

"I'm not letting you go, ever, I'm not letting you go."

"They wouldn't tell me where you were," she said, her voice wavering.

"I'm right here, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"I was so scared," she finally broke, snaking her arms through his.

They clung to each other for what seemed like hours until the clock in the hall struck five minutes 'til.

"Hmm, Elijah, where were you? Earlier? I woke up and you weren't here."

He was still buried in the side of her neck.

"I was detained, I am sorry, I would never have left you if it had been up to me."

"It was Klaus, wasn't it? He did something to you, what?"

He tried to silence her concern in an avalanche of kisses.

"Let's not speak of my brother right now."

Leah turned her face from him so that his kiss fell on her cheek instead.

"Elijah, Klaus is really mad; him and Hope's mom got in a huge fight earlier, right over there in the kitchen."

"Oh, really?" he asked lazily, breathing on the back of her ear. He really didn't give a damn about his brother; he just wanted to hear the sound of her voice.

"A fight? About what?"

She coughed. He tensed.

"Leah, are you okay?"

She waved him off, untangling herself from him.

"Yeah, yeah, just a side effect of having your throat slit open, nothing to worry about."

He shuddered at her humor; he didn't think it was funny.

_You're too serious_, he remembered she once told him.

He ran a finger across the flawless skin of her cheek, down her neck and across her pale collarbone.

"I can't believe you're here. Tell me—"

"How? It's kind of a funny story: Last night, before…the thing happened…I was halfway through turning into a wolf in my hall shower when Hope found me. Sometime during that fun adventure I bit her—"

"You bit Hope?"

She slapped him playfully on the arm then used her hand to stifle another cough.

"Don't say it like that, you make it sound weirder than it was. Yeah, I bit her and so her special magic blood was in my system when…"

"I understand," he hushed her, stroking her cheek. "I'm glad there's still a little luck in the world."

"I don't know if you should call it luck. You know I've been thinking…a lot in the last four hours…about _everything, _but one theory that might not actually be so crazy? I'm starting to think it was Hope who healed my arm all those months ago."

"Where's Hope now, I thought she would be here with you," he asked.

Something crashed in the room across the hall and he had his answer.

"That's probably the third vase in two hours. Hope and her dad have been going at it forever, all night. I'm pretty sure she hurled the coffee table at the piano just before you arrived."

"Truth be told, I had planned to smash that piano over my brother's head anyway; I thought you were gone and I wasn't going to let him slither away from this one. I'm sorry…I'm still in shock honestly, I can't believe you are…okay."

Okay was far from fine but they could work on it; they had the time.

He tangled his hand through her hair, determined to memorize the feel of every strand.

She grabbed his hand, pulling it away and enclosing it in her own. Her bright face grew grim, her eyes looked tired.

"Actually, I've hit of a bit of a snag."

She coughed again into both hands. When she pulled her hands away, they were red with blood.

Elijah grabbed her by the wrist, staring at her splattered palm in horror.

"Leah, what's wrong, what are you not telling me?"

The clock in the kitchen was counting down the minutes 'til midnight when Leah started to fade away fast.

And now the bad news.

The bad news was Leah was dying. Again.

Elijah did not take the news well. Leah hadn't realized there was any more furniture left in this house to be destroyed, but there went the armchair and the side table and the strange twisted glass sculpture that she actually kinda liked.

"This can't be true, tell me it again, Leah."

Leah had to stifle a fit of coughing before she could answer him.

"Stop throwing things and maybe I will. If Klaus won't let Hope give me her blood, then I don't think there's a force on earth that can change that, trust me, she's been arguing with him for hours trying to get him to change his mind. Elijah, her blood is the only thing that will complete the transition, but Klaus said no, so please don't push him, don't beg him, _please_, you said he's already daggered you once tonight, please don't provoke him, Elijah."

Wiping a hand across his exhausted face, Elijah paced before her couch.

"Am I just supposed to let you die?"

"Yep, and it wouldn't be the first time."

She was joking. How was she joking at a time like this? What was so funny?

He didn't find this even remotely funny.

"Leah, you need to complete the transition, it's already nearly been 24 hours."

"Trust me," she coughed again, already nodding off, "I know."

She was too tied to really argue, what was the point anyway? She was just glad he was here, if it had to end like this. She just wished Hope could get free in time to say goodbye.

She also wanted to tell her which photo to use at her funeral.

Elijah took a second to listen in on the argument still raging on behind the locked doors to the study.

"So, is that what my brother has been up to? Locking Hope away in the office, keeping her from you? I swear, I am going to—"

Elijah made a violent movement toward the hall.

Leah laid her head back down on her makeshift pillow, pleading with him from beneath heavy eyelids.

"Elijah, just leave Klaus and stay with me. Please?"

/

By the time Hope broke away from Klaus it was past midnight; at last she had been forced to nearly knock out her father with the leg to Elijah's fancy writing desk in order to escape the study.

He was stilling yelling at her as she stormed across the hall.

She found them in the front room; Elijah on the couch, Leah asleep across his lap, curled in the nook of his arm.

Sprinting over to Leah, Hope touched her face; she was cool to the touch.

"Is she asleep, Elijah? Am I too late?"

Elijah was silent as the grave; adults could be so useless sometimes.

"Leah, _Leah_, can you hear me?"

"I am so sorry, Hope," Elijah's voice broke. "I am so sorry."

"No," Hope shook her head, refusing to hear his words. "No, don't apologize, not yet, I can fix this_. I can fix her."_

"You can't fix her," came Klaus' smug voice from the doorway. "What would you do, Hope, turn your best friend into a hybrid so she could hate you for the rest of time?"

"Shut up, dad."

"And I assume I have Hayley to thank for waking you up, Elijah, I had hoped you'd stay under until this all blew over."

"Dad, shut up."

"Well, it's past midnight and she has yet to complete her transition—let sleeping dogs lie, shall we?"

"SHUT UP, KLAUS, JUST SHUT UP."

That actually did shut him up.

That had an effect.

That _hurt._

_Klaus._

Hope had called him 'Klaus' with all the confidence of a child grown up. His daughter had never called him anything but _dad_ before - my _dad_, hey _dad_, stop _dad_, stop – she had called him _dad_ bitterly and angrily and furiously before, but that was all still familiar, never something so icy, so distant, so cruel as…just…_Klaus_.

Klaus made to say something, but he wasn't sure if it was an apology that was stuck in his throat.

It was so silent; they could all hear the clock above the fridge, _tick tock._

Scurrying to her feet, Hope raced into the kitchen, returning with a knife.

Klaus took a step to stop her.

"Hope…what are you doing?"

Hope turned the knife in her father's direction before kneeling beside Leah and slicing her wrist. Before the blood could even slip down her arm, Hope shoved her wrist into Leah's mouth, forcing it down her throat.

"Come on, Leah. Come on, _work_, god dammit."

Elijah pulled Hope's wet curls away from her tear-soaked face, gently shaking his head.

Hayley had been hiding out in the night, from many things, she would have to admit to herself eventually. Now, lured back into the house by the sound of Hope's voice, she finally joined them, coming to stand by Klaus.

Klaus tried to smooth it over with his daughter.

"Hope, I'm…I'm sorry. This is not how I planned it to turn out."

Still kneeling before the couch, Hope turned on her parents.

"_How _did you expect this to turn out? Tell me! All I wanted was a friend. Someone I could bring home and do normal college stuff with, _why_ was that so hard for you to accept? Don't look away, mom, this is your fault as well. You don't like Leah, fine, that's fine, but you didn't have to be so mean, and rude, and push her away, just because she reminds you of someone who's been dead for years – _years_, mom - and that's not an excuse and that doesn't justify all the crap you put Leah through. You said it yourself: shit happens and then you move on. So move on mom, and move on dad, and both of you: get over yourselves because Leah didn't choose who her mother was. She didn't choose who her father was. _No one has a choice but we do the best with the family we are given._ No child, _no one,_ should ever have to pay for the sins of their parents…_I should know."_

Ignoring the shocked expressions on her parents' faces, Hope pushed off the floor, getting to her feet. Shoving her way past Klaus and Hayley, she dropped the knife on the kitchen island before storming out through the open patio doors.

Hayley swung around to face Klaus, sighing.

"Well, we fucked up."

"An unhelpful observation, Hayley."

Resigned and defeated, Elijah gently laid Leah back down on the couch, arranging her hair around her face and her hands upon her cold chest.

"Elijah, we're sorry," Hayley tried, speaking to his turned back.

When he didn't respond, she pulled something from her pocket, forcing it into Klaus' hand.

"Give it to him, go."

Klaus took a cautious step toward the couch, clutching the bracelet in his hand.

"Elijah."

Silence.

He hadn't expected anything else really.

"Elijah, this is hers, you should give it to her."

He placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, which tensed under his touch.

"Elijah, I am trying to fix this."

With a final stroke of her cheek, Elijah at last turned from Leah to give his brother an answer.

"_Fuck you_, Niklaus."

He was gone before Klaus or Hayley could even react.


	36. Wings

The house was silent. Even the clocks stood still; the one in the hall had been destroyed and the battery in the one in the kitchen had finally died sometime in the night.

The first light of dawn had just crested the trees in the orchard, warming the front room as it filtered in through the bay windows. The light was soft, but it still burned her eyes as they fluttered opened.

Her chest gently rose and fell to the rhythm of a heart that no longer needed to beat.

Sitting up, she stretched her limbs. They were stiff; sleeping on the couch was never restful. She also felt she had slept in longer than she should have.

Perhaps she had; where was everyone?

She was _really_ hungry.

Pulling herself from the sofa, she made her way barefoot to the kitchen. It was a task; there was shattered glass littering the floor, every chair was in pieces… and was that a _bloodstained knife _on the kitchen counter?

Maneuvering around the granite island, she turned her squinting eyes toward the rising sun now flooding through the open doors onto the patio.

An odd noise was coming from outside.

Forgoing the fridge, she decided to investigate.

_Plop._

Hope's pile of rocks was almost gone. They had been really hard to find, but it felt so good letting them go. She hurled another into the pool.

_Plop._

With each throw, she felt some of the anger fade.

_Plop._

She was angry with her mom.

_Plop._

She was angry with her dad.

_Plop._

She was angry with herself.

_Plop._

She had decided; when the whole pool was more rock than water, she would go inside and begin to try to move on with her life.

_Plop._

_Plop._

_Plunk_.

"You know, someone's gonna have to clean those out eventually."

Hope froze mid-throw.

"Jesus Christ, _it's you_."

"You can still call me Leah though."

Laughing despite herself, Hope enveloped Leah in the tightest hug ever.

"You're alive, you're okay!"

"All's well that ends well, right?"

"You're alive," Hope repeated, this time barely above a whisper. Finally letting fall the rock still clutched in her hand, she wiped away the tears threatening to rain upon her face.

"Oh my god, your transition, it worked."

"11th hour save, literally," she joked, unable to express her gratitude any other way.

Hope grabbed her hand suddenly, pulling her back toward the house.

"Come on, we have to find Elijah!"

Someone was already standing in the doorway.

"Mom?"

But Hayley was looking at Leah, her lips parted in wordless wonder.

"Well I'll be…"

"Mom, I'm taking her up to Elijah's—"

Hope was stunned into silence at the sight of her mom hugging Leah.

Hayley pulled back, holding Leah at arms length, a hand on either shoulder; she took a moment to really take a look at Leah.

She was finally seeing what Hope saw; what Elijah saw.

_Just Leah._

"Leah, I have been…a complete ass to you, and I am sorry, if it's worth anything. I can't bring back your mother, and I can never _replace_ your mother, but you are going to need someone to help you through the next few months. And know this is not the sire bond talking when I say: if you need, anything—just yell. After all, us hybrids got to stick together, right?"

Listening from the kitchen, Klaus set out to make his own amends.

/

He leaned against the doorframe with arms crossed as he watched his brother pull suit and jacket and coat from the wardrobe.

There was a suitcase open on the bed.

Elijah was either lost in a mindless haze or simply ignoring him.

It was probably some combination of both.

"Elijah?"

He threw a garment bag across the bed, going in for another.

"Niklaus, you have nothing to say to me."

Well at least his brother was talking again. With growing confidence, Klaus stepped further into the room, surveying the mess of clothes, books and bourbon, wondering where the train was now that had plowed through this bedroom sometime in the night.

He raised an exasperated hand at the now empty wardrobe.

"Elijah, what are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Running away, more like."

Resisting the urge to snap his brother's neck, Elijah dove back into his work, continuing to empty his drawers. Most of his clothes were at the Compound, he realized. Never mind; he would have someone ship them to him when he got to wherever he was going.

He just couldn't stay here anymore. Not in this room, not in this house, not in this city.

He would leave this country if need be; perhaps the ends of the earth were far enough away to grant him the peace of forgetting everything that reminded him of her.

He wanted to forget about Leah, about her strawberry hair and her clear eyes and her stupid, infectious laughter.

"The city is yours, Niklaus, the Faction is yours to do with it what you will: keep them, disband them, kill them all—I care not. But I am packing and I am leaving."

"You can't just leave. Not now."

"Oh yes I can," he stated matter-of-factly. "I should have left years ago. I should have let you, and Hayley, and Hope have this city and I go find my own. Rebekah had it right, Niklaus: leaving is the only way I will have even the smallest chance at happiness. I will never be able to build anything here under your shadow, brother. I can only ask that you don't doom your daughter to the same fate."

The mere thought of his family leaving him set Klaus on edge; his sister's words rang in his ears.

_Has history taught you nothing? We don't abandon you, Nik. You drive us away._

He was a slow learner but he was coming to understand: if they left, it was only because he had pushed them away.

It would be a formidable task to change a thousand years of bad habits, but Klaus knew well that you eat an elephant one bite at a time; he had to do right by his brother, and by Leah, and perhaps, one day, he would make it up to his sister as well.

It was never too late for now.

"Hear me out, Elijah. I will admit, I have been a little short-sighted in the past few months-"

"Months?" Elijah thought cruelly, ignoring the rest of his brother's self-critical posturing. He continued pulling books from the shelf; they fell to the floor creased and splayed in his desperate attempt to find his journal from last year.

He would have to destroy that too if he meant to forget her.

"—start over…Elijah, are you even listening?"

Klaus had to sidestep swiftly to avoid being hit by a bookend bust of Petrarch.

"Now, wait, Elijah, listen-"

"Spare me your empty apologies, I have no time for another one of your self-serving sermons."

"Well, yes, another time perhaps, but right now I am simply trying to get you to listen."

"Niklaus—"

"No, _Elijah_, I said _listen._"

Elijah stopped searching the bookshelf and did just that.

The ringing sound of laughter was rising in spirals from the lower level.

Hope must be outside, by the pool, Elijah thought.

_Hope and someone else_, there were two voices.

Hope and_ Leah._

Elijah questioned Niklaus with a silent, frantic look; his brother's assuring smile confirmed his most fragile hope.

Still, he would have to see it to believe it.

_See her._

Out on the patio, Leah didn't need her new hybrid hearing to know Elijah was calling her name.

/

They met at the bottom of the stairs.

Elijah lifted her clear off the ground, taking her into his arms.

Moments later Hope and Hayley had both appeared at the kitchen doorway, Klaus coming down the stairs a second later. He had to sidle around the couple because they were still kissing most conveniently right in the middle of the foyer.

"I think this calls for the good scotch," Klaus offered, trying to give Elijah and Leah some space.

Hope eagerly volunteered.

"Top shelf, linen closet, I've got it."

Hayley found herself abandoned in the hallway; Elijah and Leah were still going at it like only people who didn't need to breathe could do.

"And I'll be...anywhere but here," she told herself, stepping back into the kitchen to grab the ice.

/

Hope waved the bottle in her hand as she bounced into the sitting room, joining her parents by the bar cart.

Klaus looked up arranging the glasses, taking the scotch from her.

"Are the two love birds till twittering out there?"

"No," she said, grabbing a tumbler of her own from the cart. "Elijah's taken Leah back to the Compound. That…is probably best for everyone. And if they don't ever comeback, I can't blame them."

She poured herself a generous amount of scotch.

Klaus peered at his daughter as she downed her drink.

"Last night," he confessed, "When you called me 'Klaus'—"

"That's your name, isn't it? What, did that make you feel old?"

"Very funny, Hope. No, but it did make me realize…that we are both adults now."

Hope set down her tumbler, collecting her words before addressing Klaus.

"You will always be my father, and…I will always be your little girl, I get that…but I think it's time we begin to see each other for who we really are."

Klaus could hardly contain the pride he felt for Hope at this very moment. He looked over to Hayley before refilling Hope's drink.

"I agree…completely. It's time that I start seeing you as the assertive and fearless young woman that you have become, and not the little girl we've been holding on to for far too long. In fact, I think it's time to push you from the nest and see how you fly—come autumn, your mother and I have decided that you will have your own place, in the Quarter of course, at least for now."

Hope's face lit up. She looked to her mother for confirmation; Hayley nodded.

"Maybe you can even get a job and pay for it yourself," Klaus added with a sly grin, handing her back her tumbler.

"Haha, right, now who's being funny?"

Klaus wasn't done yet.

"And…if Leah wishes to move in with you…that is fine with me."

Hope closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around her father.

"Thank you, _thank you so much_, dad."

_Dad._

There it was.

Klaus waved over Hayley.

"Come on, you too, get in here."

Hayley held back a smile, scratching her head in rhetorical contemplation.

"I don't know, are you sure you don't want me to get the camera? I'm pretty sure this is a once-in-a-million shot."

"Mom!" Hope giggled, waving her mother over to join the family hug.

Hayley was all too happy to have her family back.

**.AN: Just a few more chapters 'til the end, my friends! Thanks for hanging in there! **


	37. The Thread of the Thing

**AN: Ahaha, y'all are tryna distract me with the idea of writing Elijah sexytimes! Tempting, but it's not in the cards for ****this particular story (mostly because I'm crap at it). If anyone wants to write a "deleted" scene though, you have my blessing! Here, let me give you some fodder!**

All good things must come to an end, but the truth of this fact didn't make it any easier to accept.

Monday morning had come around and now the vacation was truly over. On second thought, Leah wondered, perhaps 'staycation' was actually the more appropriate term in this case. After all, she concluded, she had indeed spent the last seven days on a sort of holiday from all the realities of her changing life. Tucked away in the happy seclusion of the Compound, Leah had spent most of her staycation in the blissful distraction that was Elijah's bed.

Bed was safe; the real world was scary.

The adjustment to her new-found hybridity was definitely bringing its share of growing pains, both physical and emotional. It was a hard pill to swallow: Leah was now a thing that went bump in the night.

She had promised herself that she would take it one day at a time, one step at a time.

On the first day, Elijah had brought her to the Compound. She was wired, yet exhausted, and her new hybrid body was pulling her in a million different directions: she wanted to dance and cry and yell and scream and fight and fuck and sleep for days and days and days.

And perhaps most new and confusing and terrifying of all, she wanted to sink her fangs into someone's throat and drink until their heart stopped beating.

Even Elijah agreed that she wouldn't be doing anything until she got some blood into her.

On the second day, she had laid in bed next to Elijah after their umpteenth go between the sheets simply feeling the breeze from the window as it slipped across her glistening skin, staring at her hands like they were the most fascinating things in the world, simply transfixed by these strange new reaches of sight and sound and sensation. Coming out of this synesthetic coma, it was rinse and repeat until she was right back where she started, staring at every crack and crevice in the ceiling like they held all the mysteries of the world.

On the third day, he tried to get her to talk about _it. _She knew it was a trick: 'it' was not one thing, 'it' was actually a combination of several things, none of which she wanted to (or needed to?) address, at least right now (maybe not ever). Anyway, Leah told him, she seemed to be doing just fine; besides the fact that she felt like she was on LSD most of the time, everything was _totally fine, Elijah, really. _

On the fourth day, she finally looked at her phone for the first time in days over breakfast: she had 9 texts and 3 missed calls from Hope (she ignored the voice mails entirely). She deleted them all, staring at the phone in her hand with an anxious frown for a solid three minutes. Leah then proceeded to drop the phone on the floor and stomp on it with the full force of her hybrid strength until it was smashed into a million little pieces.

Elijah had watched the outburst from the other side of the kitchen with grave concern yet gentle understanding. Patiently, he crossed the room, took her hand and promised her it would be okay; after all, tomorrow was another day.

Nevertheless, Leah didn't have to wait that long. Elijah had bought her a new phone by dinner.

On the fifth day, at precisely 2:32pm Zach texted her asking if she had gone to the geology review session and if so what would be on the test. This led to Leah questioning whether there was any point studying for that dumb test (or completing that useless class, or even returning to school at all) which in turn developed into a full on existential crisis involving the meaning of life (the universe and everything) and several bottles of vodka.

It took Elijah until 7:56pm to talk her down from the roof.

On the sixth day, Elijah decided that going back to school was in fact the best thing for Leah. The two of them sat down in his office and made a list of short-term goals and long-term goals: graduating was a short-term goal; everything else was a long-term one.

Going back to school would mean learning to control any and all homicidal urges.

Mastering the time-honored skill of sublimation through alcohol was not going to be enough; Elijah wasn't sure if Leah was joking or being serious when she suggested she could simply carry a flask on her at all times when on campus.

(She wasn't joking.)

(He wasn't going to take any chances.)

They spent the entire day walking around New Orleans, from the quiet streets of the Quarter to the tortuous temptation that was the Esplanade Mall on a Saturday afternoon.

By early evening, the struggle was real. Her last blood bag had been that morning; Elijah had wanted her to really push herself to the limit but halfway through Macy's she wasn't so sure she wasn't going to take a bite out of that child screaming in the shoe aisle over.

Noticing the tense grip Leah had on her shopping bag, Elijah concluded that she had demonstrated an impressive amount of self-restraint and decided it was probably a good time to go home.

On the other hand, Leah demonstrated an impressive lack of self-restraint in the bedroom that night.

On the seventh day, they rested.

Now Monday morning had indeed come around again and the vacation was well and truly over.

As usual, Elijah was already awake, although he hadn't yet left the bed; he had been counting the number of seconds Leah could sleep through her phone alarm.

"One minute and 15 seconds, impressive."

She answered him with an unintelligible grumble of words, hitting her phone aimlessly until the alarm silenced.

"I think you just hit 'snooze.'"

"I know," she slurred, turning to face him, her face still flush to the pillow. "That was on purpose."

Elijah ran a thumb across her cheek, replying firmly.

"You have to go back to campus. We agreed."

"You agreed. I just kinda gave a non-committal grunt."

"You also agreed that starting this week you would work on talking more about it."

Ugh, _it._

"So…?" he ventured.

She rolled on to her back to stare at the ceiling in disinterest.

"So what?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

_No._

"Talk about what?"

She knew she was taking advantage of his unlimited patience for her, but _he _knew that trying to drag her into a serious discussion anytime before 11 was a useless endeavor.

"Let's start chronologically, perhaps. How about…your feelings about me compelling you?"

"Easy,_ not cool._"

That was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but - no need to elaborate.

It was too early in the morning anyway for long sentences and complex emotions.

She was still staring at the ceiling.

"Fine, then what about the night in the cemetery?"

"_Not fun."_

That was also the truth.

"Davina?"

_"Eh."_

"Then what about your mother?"

"_Definitely not relevant."_

"I think it's very relevant, Leah, and you have to talk about it at some point."

She turned her head, training her clear eyes on him. Now she had a question.

_"Why?"_

Elijah softened his gaze, remembering; he was speaking from past experience.

It was undeniable now: Hayley and Leah were terribly alike in so many ways.

"Because those feelings you are avoiding won't go away, Leah, they will sit heavy in your heart and eat away at it."

She held his gaze unblinking before breaking out into a beaming grin like he had just told a really funny joke.

"Elijah, lighten up, let me just get through this next month even if I have to do it on auto-pilot. Let's add early morning counseling to the long-term list, okay? You're the one forcing me to go back to school, don't you think that's enough torture for one day?"

"Leah…"

She sat up, pulling the sheet up around her bare chest.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I promised, it's just…"

"Scary?"

"New. It's all very new."

"One day at a time."

"I know," she hummed, attempting to give him bedroom eyes at 8:13 in the morning. "Are you sure I can't just stay here one more day?"

Elijah smiled at her obvious overture.

"Leah…" he warned, more firmly this time. "I know what you are doing, that's not going to work on me."

Pouting playfully, she gathered the sheets around her before swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"It usually does," she teased before placing both feet on the cool floor and standing. "How 'bout this, I'm gonna shower - that should give you plenty of time to reconsider."

"Hmhmm," Elijah voiced, watching her retreat into the en suite bathroom.

Pulling his own phone from the nightstand, Elijah was greeted with a very unexpected text.

/

"Get dressed."

That was not exactly the welcome she had expected returning from the shower.

Elijah was already dressed, suit, tie and jacket.

Apparently everyone was going back to work today.

"Are we…going somewhere?" she asked, pulling an outfit from her designated drawer.

"Yes, downstairs. I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Leah made a face at his curt response.

Since when did going to the kitchen require clothes? It certainly didn't last week.

Vacation was definitely over.

She got dressed as he left, pulling a brush through her damp tangles and shoving her phone into her back pocket before heading for the stairs to the lower level.

She was looking down at a new text message when she entered the kitchen, so this was quite literally a surprise.

"Surprise! We made you breakfast!"

Hope was literally in her face with a muffin basket.

She was not alone in this culinary ambush.

Leah stood in the doorway, dumbfounded; she wasn't sure what was indeed more surprising, the fact that Hayley was cutting a grapefruit into quarters or that Klaus was nursing a pan over the stove.

"Are you making bacon?"

"And eggs, Elijah tells me you like them scrambled?"

Klaus took the stunned expression on her face as a _yes. _

Taking a muffin from Hope before she exploded with excitement, Leah finally turned to Elijah who was pulling the orange juice from the fridge.

"Did you set all this up?"

"Not at all. Just before you got in the shower Hayley texted they were coming over."

Okay, that was actually more surprising than Klaus and the bacon.

Leah advanced further into the kitchen, leaning against the center island as Hayley kept chopping fruit.

"You wanted to cook me breakfast?"

"Well, it was more Hope's idea. She wanted to swing by early to drive you to campus—she was afraid you wouldn't return unless she dragged you back."

Leah nodded, removing the paper liner from the muffin; Hope knew her so well.

Hayley continued, grabbing a cantaloupe from the grocery bags.

"And then Klaus said we still kinda owed you an proper apology for being so shitty to you this whole year, so…here we are…I hope you like everything anyone could possibly eat for breakfast because we are making it all."

Klaus spoke up from his place over the griddle.

"Don't be stingy, Hayley, love, bring out the bourbon as well. Leah, Hope informed me on the theory of 'I'm sorry shots' and I agree, no apology is complete without copious amounts of alcohol."

"It's barely 9."

"So we better start now before your Spanish class at 11."

Elijah laughed, pulling glasses from the cabinets.

Hope sidled up beside her on the counter, shoving a plate in her face.

"I made you pancakes!"

Leah was truly touched, but she didn't think it was safe to touch these particular flapjacks.

"Hope, why do they look like that?"

Rolling her eyes, Hope threw the plate on the counter in resignation, going for the bourbon instead.

"I forgot to add the egg. Following instructions was never my strong suit."


	38. Some Nights

Hayley had volunteered to do the dishes to give the brothers a chance to talk.

Now in the sitting room, Klaus lounged back into the couch cushions while Elijah took his place standing by the fireplace.

Since neither of them had classes to attend they were still drinking; it helped with the uncomfortable tension in the room, if only a little.

"I had no intention of talking with you anytime soon," Elijah confessed.

Klaus laughed, throwing an arm across the back of the sofa.

"In all honesty, when Hope had the idea of coming over here this morning, I knew this might be my one chance to sit you down and have a proper chat."

"Beware of Greeks bearing bagels, I see."

Klaus slapped his knee in exasperation.

"You will have to grant me some grace, brother, and understand that I am trying to apologize, not just to Leah but also to you, I am trying to make reparations the best I know how."

"Leaving us alone is a good start."

"You can't hide forever; there are things we need to discuss. Life in this town goes on whether you wish to participate in it or not."

Elijah glanced at the clock, wondering how long this was going to take.

"Go on then, Niklaus, I can tell you're wiggling in your seat to tell me how you've set the city in order in my absence."

"In your absence, brother, which is a very diplomatic way of saying you've left the city to rot."

"You're the one who killed the Guerrera boy, I'm quite surprised the city's economy hasn't collapsed."

"And you're the one who killed Antonia, but who do you think prevented the witches from rioting?"

Elijah gestured for him to continue.

"Go on, Niklaus, astound me with your diplomacy."

Klaus was only too happy to show his brother this political competency.

"The Guerrera line is in ruin; Thompson has informed me that the survivors have fled back to Texas. I've given the Crescents control of the casinos, the vampires still have the docks, and the witches have been restored to the Quarter."

Elijah must have heard that last bit wrong.

"You restored their rights?"

Klaus just shrugged, shaking the ice in his empty glass.

"You gave me your blessing to dissolve the treaty, so I did."

Elijah groaned at his brother's selectivity when it came to obeying his wishes.

"And the Quarter still stands? Incredible."

"Nonsense, dear brother; I know what the people want: _choice_, and not just the illusion of it anymore. I'm turning this monarchy into a republic, Elijah. The factions will elect their leaders and together we will rewrite the rules of this city. No more treaties, just a single constitution."

"And where do you fit into this new world order, Niklaus?"

Klaus was especially proud at this bit.

"I shall represent my own faction—the hybrids."

"A small kingdom, indeed," he pointed out blankly.

"Don't worry, Elijah," he teased, "you can be an honorary citizen."

Elijah moved across the room, offering to refill his brother's glass.

"And Marcel?" he added.

Klaus' eyes darkened.

"He's fled across the river, as usual. I'll let him be, give him five or ten years to lick his wounds. He'll come crawling back for forgiveness, he always does."

"A gracious gesture."

"We often make great allowances for those we care for."

Elijah handed the glass back to his brother, taking in Niklaus' pointed stare with annoyed contempt.

"You've changed the subject," he muttered.

"My tactics may be dirty but my intentions are pure. I am sincere in what I say: I want to make it up to you and to Leah."

Elijah fled back to the other side of the room, sitting down behind his desk.

"Then aim your attempts at Leah; if she is happy, then I am happy."

"I doubt you will ever be happy, Elijah. I doubt any of us are capable of that; but a bit of brotherly advice: don't for a second think you are succeeding in concealing the affection you have for that girl. You two are quite the object of gossip in the Quarter."

Elijah made a show of examining the back of his hand.

"People rarely have anything better to do than talk."

Klaus laughed a sympathetic laugh.

"You wait 'til word spreads that there is indeed another hybrid in New Orleans, Elijah. The people might do more than just talk."

"That is your problem now, Niklaus, my hands are full with my own concerns."

A moment passed while Klaus waited for his brother to tell him what he already knew.

Elijah said nothing though so he continued.

"A thousand years together, Elijah, do you think I don't know when you've been stewing in self-doubt? It's no easy task to chase after a wild horse, brother, I agree, but don't tell me you doubt if she feels the same for you."

Elijah fidgeted with his daylight ring before answering.

"All I ask is for the opportunity to discover if she truly does."

"You sound like you are asking my permission."

"Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am just informing you on a decision I have already made."

"So you are still planning to leave this city?"

"It depends on Leah; I am leaving the choice to her. But I am insisting she finish her degree, she needs the continuity with her old life."

"Her old life? Yes, how is she adjusting—"

"With what, exactly. There's quite a list."

"Let's start with the most recent, then."

Elijah paused, shifting through some loose papers on the desk aimlessly as he collected his thoughts.

"It's been up and down throughout the week."

"Yes, well, she was always a bit of a firecracker, and now with her emotions heightened I can only imagine."

"That being said," Elijah intoned, annoyed at the thought of his brother imagining Leah in any context, "I am quite proud of how well she is handling the bloodlust."

"Hayley's offer is still on the table, she is more than happy to take Leah for a weekend, do some hybrid bonding stuff off in the woods or something."

Elijah narrowed his eyes at this brother.

"Tell Hayley we are taking it one day at time."

He had emphasized the _we; _it wasn't lost of Klaus.

"And you think she's ready to be thrown back with the other co-eds?"

"Yes, Niklaus, I do, and she will not be alone, Hope will stay close I am sure."

"Speaking of, I'm letting Hope move into a flat in the Quarter in the fall, I'm already scouting out rooms."

"And let me guess, you have graciously allowed Hope and Leah to be roommates."

"If she wishes; I can't imagine she'd want to move into the Compound."

"You should focus on Hope's wishes, Niklaus, leave Leah's to me."

"And what about what you want, Elijah?"

Well there's something he'd never imagined he would ever hear his brother say.

When he spoke, he spoke with finality.

"Seeing Leah happy is all I want."

"Then take the summer and make her happy, brother. Leah reads European History? Then take her to Europe; you can have the second chateau in France, the villa in Tuscany, the island in Greece. Show her the world, Elijah."

"It's her choice," was all he said.

Standing, Klaus walked by Elijah's desk on the way out, digging into his pocket and removing the silver bangle. Without a word, he gently set the bracelet on the desk before leaving the room to find Hayley.

/

The Top 40 countdown was on the radio but Leah wasn't much in the mood for her usual sing-a-long.

"You ignored my texts," Hope began, eyes still on the road. "Not that I blame you, I was just worried."

"I smashed my phone," was all she said, watching a mile marker zoom by through her window.

"I guessed as much; mom said the first week after transitioning can be kinda rough. Did you listen to my voice mails at least?"

They were about 7 miles from campus; Hope and Leah had left early since parking could be a real hassle on Mondays. They also had to unpack the cooler of blood bags in the trunk and hull it up to Leah's dorm room all before class started at 11.

_I could also go for an iced coffee_, Leah thought to herself, ignoring Hope.

"You seem to be taking it all in stride though."

"Do I?" she asked earnestly, turning to face Hope.

"Yeah," Hope sang with her usual optimism, "though you seem to take everything in stride so I can't really tell. I'm assuming if you weren't okay you'd tell me, right? You've seriously given me a few grey hairs with all this worrying."

"'Okay' is a relative term," Leah corrected her, "and really vague. You can be okay and not be alright."

"Well, are you alright then?"

"I'm okay," Leah answered, ending that discussion.

Pulling off the parkway at the next exit, Hope turned up the music when Leah's favorite song came on, not that Leah seemed to notice. She had pulled out her phone and was deeply engrossed in some game. It was probably Tetris; Leah liked puzzles.

It was nice to know that she _still _liked puzzles at least.

Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel anxiously, Hope wondered if this was a good time to do this.

"I saw Aidan recently, he's doing okay too."

Leah answered without looking up from her phone.

"Yeah? Where?"

"At the funeral."

Leah chewed on her nail, suddenly jittery. She gave up on her current game and just watched as the blocks stacked up higher and higher toward the top of her screen.

One of the voicemails might have said something about a funeral; it had also been on the news on the television at the food court on Saturday.

"Was that this week?" She asked, starting a new game.

"Uh, yeah, Wednesday. I hope you don't mind, I told Aidan about your situation, I just kinda needed someone to talk to and he was obviously going through a rough patch too, him and his whole House, well, the whole pack really. Speaking of which, there's a vigil on campus on Tuesday—I think you should go."

She was losing; the blocks were stacking up uncontrollably.

"Why?"

"Leah…"

Losing again, she finally looked up at Hope.

"No why? Why should I go weep for some random kids? If anyone should be mourning, it's me...for myself."

Hope frowned, not knowing what to do or how to help Leah. Maybe this was the right time to show her; maybe knowing would make her feel better, more connected.

She dug something out of her bag from the space between the seats.

With one hand still on the wheel, she unfolded the paper with the other.

Leah was back to ignoring her, stabbing away at her phone again.

"I had Aidan do some hunting for me. His dad is the head of the Crescents and so all the records have been stored at his place for years. I hope you don't mind, I was just trying to dig up some info, maybe find out what werewolf bloodline you come from. Well, he couldn't find anything in the boxes, but he did finally come across something."

Leah stopped typing, intrigued. Hope made to pass her the folded paper, but pulled back suddenly, thinking twice: maybe this wasn't the best way to do this…or the best time.

"Hope, what is that?"

Still driving, she ping-ponged her eyes between Leah and the road.

"I'm going to tell you what this is, and then you tell me if you want to see it. If you don't—I will destroy it and we will never speak of it again."

Ok, now she had her full attention.

"What is that?"

"This…is a photocopy of something Aidan found…in his family's bible."

"His family bible?"

"Really old heirloom, no one ever reads it, covered in dust in the the attic and everything; he found it right between Leviticus and Numbers."

"Give it here," Leah whined, trying to snatch it from Hope's hand. She yanked it out of reach, causing the car to veer a hair to the left.

"Leah, are you sure you want to see this?"

_"What is it?"_ She begged in frustration, nearly crushing her phone in her fist.

"It's a xerox of your birth certificate."

_Oh._

_Ohhhh._

_Did _she want to see it?

That was an easy answer.

"No, I don't want to see it."

She turned back to her phone. Hope wondered is Leah had maybe misheard her.

"Leah, I said your birth certificate, it has your father's name on it - are you sure you don't want to see it?"

"Completely, I mean, I can kinda guess a lot based on where you said it was found."

"So you know what this means?"

Leah looked up from her phone only long enough to make her point.

"I'm not an orphan, super - _oh look_, my life is magical better."

Hope slowed her speed as she pulled into campus.

"The wasn't my intention Leah, I didn't mean….I just meant…"

"Is that why you wanted me to go to the vigil on Tuesday?"

"Your fa—Professor Thompson will be there. And Aidan-_your half-brother._ And like several handfuls of cousins—oh gosh, you have cousins, Leah!"

Leah had to smile at her enthusiasm. She finally turned off her phone.

The battery was dying anyway.

"I'll skip the family reunion, but thanks Hope, for all the trouble. I'll tell you what, I'll add 'reconnect with long lost family' to my long-term list. You have to remember that not killing anyone is this week's priority."

Hope had to admit she was a little disappointed.

"You don't even want to know what your actual birthday is?"

"No, especially if I'm actually older."

Hope laughed.

"You're not. And your name's not Leah. Do you want to know what it is?"

"Hell no, I've had enough existential meltdowns this week, let's not ruin my progress. And anyway, I'm not that girl; that's basically someone else entirely…especially now. I'm not the girl on that paper."

"I know you're not," Hope assured her, crushing the photocopy in her open hand.

Rolling down her window, she tossed the crumpled ball out into the open road.

"I'm Leah St. Ann, from now until eternity."

"I know you are," Hope repeated, "and if that's enough for you, then that's more than enough for me."


	39. Freight Train

_Fucking last day of school._

It was a fact of life: grade school, elementary school, high school: the first day of school is the best day of the year…except for the last day of course. This was especially true today; not only was it the last day of term, it was officially Leah and Hope's last day of college.

As in, last day of school, ever.

_Hallelujah, praise the Lord._

Campus was in chaos. For one, underclassmen move-out had begun. Finals had officially ended for everyone but the graduating seniors, which meant that parents had already invaded every tiny foot of lawn outside the dorms with their minivans and pick-up trucks. Those seniors lucky enough to have already completed their finals were partaking in the time-honored tradition of "blowout," during which students celebrated by getting drunk at one in the afternoon and by taking shots whenever someone started up another round of the alma mater. Tomorrow they would avoid their parents and sleep off their hangovers before they had to walk across the stage in their cap and gown bright and early Sunday morning.

And while Leah would have liked nothing more than to be joining her peers in celebration, she and Hope had one last hurdle before sweet, sweet freedom.

_Prof. J. Perez-Diaz_

_Intermediate Spanish 202_

_Final Examination_

_Friday May 13, 2:30pm_

"Are you sure it's at 2:30? In Newcomb Hall?"

"That's what the form says, I'm staring right at it, Leah."

They were supposed to be cramming for their last final ever, but naturally, the girls had procrastinated by arguing details and by talking about all things and everything except the Spanish language.

"Keep an eye on the time, Hope."

"Yeah, I am. We have like 45 minutes. Keep quizzing me."

"Okay, okay, ugh, I could really use another day to study."

"We've already gotten an extra week, you're out of miracles."

Leah and Hope were camped out at a corner table at the Grind, notebooks and dictionaries spread across the table. Two mugs of coffee were forming rings on the cover of Hope's copy of _Advanced Spanish Grammar. _While Hope had been better at keeping up at her studies, Leah had understandably fallen far behind. She had all but failed her geology and philosophy finals because she simply hadn't the time to study, you know, between the dying, and the transitioning, and the struggles to not drain her TA.

When she had told Hope late last week that she was afraid they might fail her all together if she didn't at least get a decent grade in her other two classes, Hope had told her not to worry, but to go home and study.

"I'm serious, I will even tell Elijah not to distract you," Hope warned her. "He's such an enabler. In fact, don't even go back to the Compound. Stay on campus and study, I'll take care of the rest."

The next morning, Hope had marched into the Dean of Students office.

"I need to reschedule the Spanish 202 final, for me and my friend. We want to take it on Friday instead of Monday."

"We don't allow students to reschedule so last minute," the secretary had told her, not even looking up from her computer. "And your friend needs to be here in person if she wants to make a request."

Hope wasn't fazed. She leaned over the counter and played her ace; pulling out her student ID card, she flashed it at the woman.

"Let me ask again, and I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself: my uncle recently made a significant donation to this school. In fact, I hear they are breaking ground on the Mikaelson Career Center in August."

Glancing up at the girl's ID, the secretary nearly knocked over her coffee in her race to bring up the rescheduling form.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mikaelson," she hastily apologized, "what's your friend's name and when do you want to take the exam again?"

Leah enjoyed listening to this story, even if it was the third time she'd heard it.

"How'd they even connect Elijah's donation to you; I thought you said you were enrolled under a different name?"

"I changed it with the registrar a while back," Hope confessed, flipping through her notecards. "I've had fake names my entire life; I wanted to graduate as Hope Mikaelson, not Hannah Marshall. I wanted my real name on my diploma. Dad can get over it."

Leah hummed in agreement; she more than anyone understood the importance of one's own name.

"Time check?"

"30 minutes-oh shit, you're right, we should get back to studying. Where were we?"

"Conjugation charts."

Leah held up an index card.

"Is this subjective?"

She definitely needed more caffeine.

"_Subjunctive_, Leah, and no, it's not."

"Shit."

To be honest, she was having a hard time concentrating. It wasn't just that the coffee house was packed and she could hear the couple all the way in the back talking about their beach week plans, crystal clear at 20 feet away. And it wasn't that she was jonesing for a blood bag even after three shots of espresso.

It was the fact that all this Spanish kept reminding her of Pablo, and then she was reminded of the bracelet she no longer needed, and then she was reminded of Elijah. As much as he wanted her to graduate, he was just as annoyed as she that everything seemed to come down to a single grade on a single exam.

"I can just take you to Spain if you want to learn Spanish."

She had thought he was simply making a statement, but thinking about it now…had he been asking her a question?

Was he asking her if she wanted to go to Spain?

"_Dudo que usted vaya al Perú en diciembre_."

Leah snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Hope's voice.

"What?"

"I said," Hope groaned, "is this sentence in the subjunctive tense?"

"Yeah, yeah," Leah answered, shaking her head to refocus.

Hope was losing her patience, Leah was completely not with it today.

"Okay, and now, what does it mean? What did I just say?"

"In Spanish?"

"In _English, _Leah. Translate what I just said into _English_."

"Uhh…"

Luckily, someone swooped in to save her.

"Princess said, 'I doubt you are going to Peru in December.' I doubt it too, that's smack in the middle of the rainy season—Go in the summer."

"Aidan!"

"Hey Hope...Leah."

He pulled over an empty chair and took a seat, but not before running a hand across Hope's back.

Leah didn't notice the affectionate gesture; she was too busy trying not to stare too obviously at Aidan. They did kind of have the same nose…

"Uhh, hey you," Leah began, a bit unsure of herself.

I mean, how does one greet a long-lost half-brother?

Let's try this again.

"Uh, so Aidan, done with exams?"

He hailed the barista for his usual order before turning back to answer Leah's question.

"Yep, as of Wednesday, I'm a free man now. Well, at least until September."

It certainly didn't seem like he knew she knew.

"What's in September?" Hope asked, annoyed at not already knowing.

"In September, I'm starting at the business school here. My family just inherited three casinos, nine bars and a small restaurant chain off them Guerreras. Someone's gotta run the numbers and keep the doors open. My dad's more into reading books than cooking them so it's up to me to carry on the family business."

Leah narrowed her eyes, frowning. She had a feeling he was baiting her to say something about the birth certificate.

She was however distracted when Hope took Aidan's hand over the table and gave it a sympathetic squeeze.

"How's the House doing," Hope asked him gently.

"We're struggling," he began, just as the waiter dropped off his order. He thanked the busboy before turning back to Hope.

"It's been a hard month. We had a plaque dedication ceremony this morning; it's by the front door and it has their names and years on it and everything. It's been brutal seeing their parents here though, cleaning out the rooms and stuff, oh man, especially the parents of the two seniors; we're doing something for Isaac and Dan at graduation, don't know what yet, but I can guarantee it will definitely get us all expelled."

Hope smiled sincerely at his optimism.

"I guess it's a good thing your dad's a professor then, immunity and all."

_You mean our dad_, Leah thought to herself, chewing on her nail absentmindedly again.

It had been over a month since Hope had hurled her birth certificate from the car window. She still stood by her decision; she didn't want to see it. But then the thing was, she didn't have to see it to know that she was a Crescent wolf, that the boy sitting across from her was her half-brother, that her major advisor for four years had actually been her father all along.

_Was that on purpose_, she wondered, nervously chewing through another nail. _Did he know and if so, for how long?_

_And he fucking gave me a B last semester_, she frowned, _that's just rude._

When she came out of her thoughts, Hope and Aidan were looking straight at her.

"Uhh…"

She took her finger out of her mouth and awkwardly shuffled her verb flashcards.

Aidan leaned in really close to Hope; they were whispering as if she couldn't hear them at this distance even without her hybrid abilities.

"Hope…did you?'

"Yeah, she knows."

Leah made a sour face, feeling abandoned on her side of the table.

"What do I know? That you two are dating?"

"No," Hope frowned. "Well, _yes, _but that's not what I meant and you know it."

"Oh," Leah shrugged, pretending her notecards were suddenly actually worth her attention, "then I'm not interested in chatting. I do have an exam in like 15 minutes."

"She's kidding," Hope told Aidan pointedly.

Leah set down her index cards in a huff, addressing Aidan directly.

"I'm not kidding, I really do have a final at 2:30."

"I mean," Hope back peddled, "she's kidding, she _is_ interested in chatting with you and your dad, I am sure, just not right now because _we_," she threw Leah a glance, "have a final at 2:30."

"And look, it's 2:21," Leah announced, shoving her notebook and textbook in her bag. "Newcomb's on the other side of the quad, Hope, let's go."

Aidan took his mug in his hands as the girls rose from the table. Leah took both their empty mugs in her free hands and turned to Aidan before heading to return them at the front counter.

"Bye, Aidan. Find us afterwards, how 'bout that. You can buy me a drink and we can chat about how it's not fair you have better bangs than me…and maybe you can even introduce me to the other Beta Phi boys. I can't believe I went four years without realizing it was a fraternity full of werewolves-that really does explains _so much."_

He laughed, reminding himself to take her up on her offer.

"Will do, Leah. I'm excited to get to learn more about you, and good luck, ladies. You have Perez-Diaz right? Don't worry, she curves. Generously."

Hope leaned down to give Aidan a peck on the cheek before pulling her bag over her shoulder and catching up with Leah.

"See ya."

"_Adiós_, Princess."

/

"How'd you do?"

"84! She graded it right there in the room after we were done."

Elijah pulled her in for a quick kiss before turning to pour them both celebratory drinks.

"Congratulations, Leah. Now all you have to do is walk the stage and you've done it."

"Ha," she laughed, throwing herself on the sofa, "easier said than done in 2 and a half inch heels. I'm just so glad to be done with school forever."

Elijah joined her on the couch, bringing the glasses and the small box with him.

"Learning is a life-long pursuit, Leah. If you don't continue to practice your languages, you will lose them. I know for a fact that Spain is lovely in late May."

She paused, taking the glass from him.

See, there it was again: was he telling her or asking her?

She was zoning out again.

"Um, sorry I was late, I went out to happy hour with Hope and Aidan."

"An unusual pair."

Leah snorted into her ice.

"What, because she broke his nose back in October or because he's my brother? Don't be such a judgy judgeface, Elijah."

He had to raise an eyebrow at her unique vocabulary.

"I only meant to suggest that Niklaus has not yet scared the poor boy off."

"Well I for one would think twice before standing in between that girl and anything she wants. Hope is _determined;_ did she tell you about her stunt with the Dean of Students office?"

"I was not at all surprised. Hope is very fond of you, Leah; not only does she consider you a true friend, but I am certain she considers you family as well."

A brother and a sister were a lot to gain in one day, she thought.

Elijah must have been thinking the same thing.

"So what did you and Aidan talk about? I presume you discussed the Crescent family tree?"

"Something like that," she recalled. "When he found the birth certificate, he knew it had to be mine; my mom had put Professor Thompson's name as my father but she had down my last name as Levesque. So, Aidan took it to his dad, asked what the hell was up…and his dad just told him."

"Just like that?" Elijah asked, resting his arm over the back of the sofa.

"Just like that. It was the big skeleton in the family closet apparently; his dad…_my dad_… was on the witches' side in the war."

"I pardoned him," Elijah offered, almost apologetically. "I set him on the Faction myself. I can't believe I never knew."

"He didn't know either until Davina gave him the certificate the day I was left at St. Ann's - it had been attached to my mom's letter. Davina promised him I'd be fine at Holy Cross and he was already married anyway…so...I just stayed there."

"And he didn't come looking for you?"

"Well, this would be a very different story if he did, Elijah," she laughed softly. "The cards fall how they are meant to fall. I mean, I'm guessing he never expected his son one day to be dating _the _Hope Mikaelson…or that she would be best friends with his secret love-child. Perhaps he had his suspicions; your brother did have him stalking me for quite a while. I'm guessing he just didn't ever know for sure…you have to remember he was also affected by Davina's illusion spell until just recently, up until she died."

She was chewing on her nail again. It was certainly easy to make new bad habits; she seemed to be doing this more and more these days, whenever anyone made her talk about _it_ and all that _it _included.

Elijah had been right; you have to talk about these things, you can't just sit on them.

Either they will eat away at you…or you'll just start eating away at your own fingers.

Sensing her nervous distraction, Elijah gently took her hand and brought it away from her mouth, resting it in his own.

"I wanted to give this to you."

He took out the jewelry box, slowing opening the hinge to reveal two articles: one silver, one gold.

The first was her mother's necklace.

"You saved this? From the cemetery?"

"Hayley did. She thought you might want it back."

Leah pulled the gilded necklace from its box, feeling the slip of the gold chain between her fingers. She ran a thumb over the ornate L pendent, memorizing the feeling of its weight in her palm.

She ended up gently putting it back.

"It's funny, I spent so many years chasing after this, and now that I have it, I don't want it anymore."

"Say no more, Leah, you don't need to explain. I will keep it with the rest of our family's heirlooms, in case you do one day."

She swore he had said _our family._

He removed the other object and setting the box on his lap, began to undo the silver clasp for her.

Looking down at the braided bracelet and the dull stone, Leah was confused at why he was giving this to her.

"I don't need this anymore, Elijah."

He paused his hands, the clasp still undone.

"Needs and wants are two different things, Leah. If you still want this, it is yours."

Leah wondered if she could even get headaches anymore, or perhaps all the caffeine and alcohol was doing something to her head; she was sure Elijah was trying to tell her something (or ask her something?) but whatever the message, it wasn't coming through with his words. It was like trying to translate static.

It was very annoying.

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her response.

"Thank you, Elijah. I'm sure you went through a lot of trouble to get this back for me."

He silently fastened the bracelet around her wrist, a bit disappointed at her answer.

She noticed the change in his expression and tried to lighten the mood.

Standing up, she offered to refill his glass with an extended arm and an open hand.

"Okay," she laughed, "I hope that's it. There better not be a ring in there too."

She turned from him toward the bar cart.

Elijah straightened in his seat with an unquiet restlessness.

When she returned, he took his glass with only a soft smile in return.

He decided not to tell her about the plane tickets in his inner jacket pocket.

**AN: God, this family is so casually incestuous - I love it. PS: I've posted the link on my profile where you can listen to all the songs that have inspired every chapter and chapter title of this fic.**

**Up next: Graduation! What graduation presents would you get Leah and Hope? **


	40. Cinnamon

Someone was calling her before 11.

_How dare they._

It took her a minute to find her phone, still groggy and half-asleep. Leah had gone to bed well past midnight, too excited to sleep despite the long day ahead of her; she had packed up everything but her bed before finally collapsing in it around three in the morning.

_Why did it feel like she had forgotten to do something before falling asleep? _

She was going to murder whoever was calling her.

"Hello?"

"Leah?"

Oh, never mind; it was just Elijah. He'd be lucky if he got complete words out of her this early in the morning, let alone complete sentences.

"_Hmmmm?"_ she asked.

"Are you not awake yet?"

"Nnnaaaai'm awake, I'm awake, I swear. Why so early, where's the fire?"

"Outside, where we are waiting for you to come down."

"Outside?"

"Commencement starts at 9 still, correct?"

_Ooooooooooooh crap._

That was it.

She had forgotten to set her alarm.

Glancing up at her graduation dress and gown still on the hook over the back of her door, Leah pulled at the mess that was her hair, calculating how long it would take her to look halfway decent.

Flinging the covers off her legs, she bolted from the bed.

"Ten minutes, Elijah, give me ten minutes."

"You didn't set your alarm, did you?"

She paused, taking a moment to stare at the phone before putting it back to her ear.

"I can practically see your grumpy face through the phone, Elijah, I'll moving as quick as I can."

There was a commotion over the line; Hope had commandeered the phone.

"Leah, I am coming up. I'll do your hair while you do your make-up. You are _not_ missing your graduation, over my dead body."

_Click._

The line went dead.

She threw the phone on her bed, pulling off her pajamas with one hand and pulling her dress from the hanger with the other.

In less than two minutes there was a knock at the door.

Leah was tremendously grateful for a friend like Hope.

/

After the main commencement ceremony in the stadium, the students attended smaller, more personal ceremonies hosted by their individual departments. The European Studies faculty had set up a tent in a quiet part of campus and the recently graduated seniors were now enjoying light refreshments in the shade with their friends and family.

Leah laughed into her lemonade as Hayley tried to force Hope to take a million photos in her cap and gown in front of a particularly beautifully blooming magnolia tree.

"Don't think you're free from the same fate, Leah."

Elijah stood beside her again. He had been called away for a while to attend some fancy ribbon cutting ceremony in honor of the new career center, though he had been sure not to miss her or Hope going up to receive their diplomas and a firm handshake from the department chair.

Leah took a moment to admire just how on point Elijah looked today; he had even worn an olive and blue tie to match her school colors.

She touched his arm, gesturing to Hope and Hayley with her glass.

"See, Hope has the wrong technique. You suck it up and let them get one good shot of you. If you resist, then you'll be standing there for an hour until they get the perfect photo."

Elijah caught himself staring at her; she was in a playful mood and he found himself inspired to play along too.

"You sound like you speak from experience?"

Leah was still looking at Hope who had her eyes closed in that last one.

"Aidan dragged me into like a million photos earlier. Apparently I've been crowned Beta Phi sweetheart."

Elijah was unfamiliar with the recognition, though he had no doubt she deserved the honor.

"What exactly does that entail," he asked, simultaneously noticing that Professor Thompson was curiously absent from his own departmental function.

"Well, there's no actual crown, if that's what you're thinking. It just means I get to be in all their composites and they have to be on their best behavior around me. I'm basically the official fraternity sister."

The irony was not lost on either of them.

Elijah was still studying her. She had stopped biting her nails; since Friday she had painted her manicured tips a delicate shade of sky blue to match the tassel on her cap and the color of her shoes.

It matched her eyes perfectly as well.

He took her painted nails as a small sign that Leah was finding her balance again. It was a small victory but a huge confirmation that indeed it had been a good idea to make her go back to school.

Leah raised her chin, still watching the drama unfold before the magnolia tree.

"And how long has Hayley and my brother been at it with Hope?" he asked.

"Like twenty minutes," she laughed. "I think your brother fancies himself a professional photographer."

"You know Niklaus: mediocrity is an unforgiveable sin."

While they talked, Hope finally broke free from the camera. She immediately joined Leah and Elijah under the tent by the dessert table.

Elijah welcomed his niece, pouring her a glass of lemonade.

"I'm sure there is at least one photograph in there worthy to sit upon the mantelpiece."

"I'd say—and it gets worse; rumor has it we're doing a family photo in five, so now's the time to run if you still value your sanity, Elijah."

"May I see your diploma?" He asked, choosing to stay and humor his brother.

"Oh, yeah, I wanted to show you…"

Pulling the diploma cover from under her arm, Hope passed her cup to Leah so she could open it with both hands.

"Ta da!"

Elijah read from the diploma, flawlessly translating the Latin.

"…'this degree of Bachelor of Arts in European History has been conferred upon…_Hope Mikaelson._'"

He was pleasantly surprised.

"Well, I am very happy you went through with the name change, Hope, you should be very proud of what you have achieved and you deserve to have the diploma to reflect it."

"Thanks, Elijah! Leah's really thrilled about graduating too, right Leah?"

She shrugged instead of answering, handing Hope back her drink.

Someone was calling Hope's name; Hayley was waving them over. It was time for the photo.

"Here we go again," Hope sang, grabbing her uncle's hand and pulling him over to the sunny clearing just beyond the event tent. Hayley was waiting for them there; she immediately started to fix wisps of honey hair that had started escaping from under Hope's cap.

The three of them were already in position, but Klaus was still fumbling with the Nikon.

"I'll take the photo for you," Leah volunteered, setting down her lemonade on one of the catering tables. "My hands are free."

"Nonsense, I'll compel someone to do it. And anyway, you have to be in the picture yourself," Klaus concluded.

Leah shook her head ignoring the look Elijah was giving her.

"Oh no, you don't want me messing up your nice family photo. Let me take it."

"_Leah,"_ Klaus insisted, using his dad voice. "You are part of this family whether you like it or not."

After a few seconds of tense silence, Leah and Klaus broke out into simultaneous smiles before bursting out into harmonious laughter.

Elijah, Hayley, and Hope could not quite believe what they were seeing.

_Who would have ever thought?_

"Finneeee," Leah whined in jest, "I'm coming."

She straightened her cap and repositioned her tassel before swooping in under Elijah's outstretched arm. Hope settled in next to Leah on her right and then Hayley with her arm over her daughter's shoulder.

Klaus was just passing off the camera to some freshly compelled parent when a voice cut through the muffled noise of the crowd.

"Taking a family photo without me? Rude."

The shriek Hope emitted was truly unnatural.

"Aunty Bex!"

Hope broke out of her spot between Leah and Hayley to throw her arms around Rebekah. Elijah turned to his brother with a questioning look, but Klaus was just as surprised.

"I swear you keep getting bigger," Rebekah coddled, fluffing Hope's curls with both hands before turning to greet her brothers with a well-earned tone of confidence.

"Elijah…_Nik."_

"Litter sister," Klaus approached, "I must say I am surprised to see you back. In the city."

Rebekah still had Hope under her arm like a protective mother bird.

"Miss my niece's graduation? Please, not even you could stop me, Nik," she grinned.

"I didn't know you were coming!" Hope chirped, jumping up in her excitement.

"Well, your mother wouldn't take _no _for an answer."

All eyes were on Hayley.

"Oh no, don't give me that look, Klaus, more like shame on you - and you Elijah, for not thinking of inviting her yourself."

"Don't trust boys to do anything, Hope," Rebekah bent low to warn her niece before advancing toward Elijah. "Don't look so contrite, Elijah, I've already forgiven your oversight; after all, I've heard you've been quite distracted in the last few months."

She had reached Leah, the girl from the photo. It didn't escape Rebekah that Elijah had placed his hand protectively on her lower back.

_Her brother was so obvious sometimes._

"Hi," Leah peeped, not sure if she should shake the blonde's hand or ask for her autograph. To be honest, she was a little overwhelmed; Rebekah looked like she had just walked off the set of a modeling shoot. Leah couldn't quite remember what Hope had said her aunt managed—was it a chain of clubs? A fashion house? The entire city of Paris?

"And you must be the distraction—Leah, am I right? Don't worry, I'm not going to grill you with a million questions…I'll save that for the after party. Besides for seeing Hope graduate, I'm actually also back in New Orleans for a bit of business. You see, Hayley wanted me to bring someone with me, someone who could deactivate her sire bond to Hope - permanently this time. He could do the same for you, he's quite the talented witch."

Leah looked up at Elijah; neither of them had given a thought to the possibility that Leah could have formed a sire bond with Hope.

"I don't…I don't think I have a bond to Hope."

Rebekah just shrugged, taking in the surroundings.

"Well, you're probably right. Philippe says—"

"_Philippe?"_ Klaus interjected, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "What happened to 'no loose ends', little sister? I thought you had killed him, Rebekah; I told you to find a witch you could trust, not one you could marry."

Rebekah had long since learned to ignore Klaus; he was more bark than bite anyways these days.

"We're not _engaged, _Nik, no need to get your knickers in a twist. He's a very powerful witch, and he's kept our secrets for over twenty years, but he's also a decent human being and _my friend,_ and a fantastic artist moreover. You can meet him yourself, Nik, I'll bring him to the party later…I'm sure you two can bond over art metaphors and expensive paintbrushes."

She turned back to her more mature brother and his young lady friend.

"Anyway, Philippe says that sire bonds are formed through a debt of extreme gratitude, for example, gratitude for saving a werewolf from having to turn on the full moon. But I'm guessing since Elijah gave you that—"

She indicted her moonlight bracelet; Leah touched it possessively, stepping closer into Elijah.

"—turning was never a real concern to begin with."

"Well, to be honest, a lot of people have told me I can be rather ungrateful at times, so I guess that explains it."

It wasn't even a joke, but still Rebekah smiled back at her.

"I like her, Elijah," she finally concluded. "She's a keeper."

Hope came to Leah's rescue.

"We can talk at the party!" Hope whined, pulling Leah away from her aunt and toward the magnolia tree. "Are we going to take this photo or what? I think Mr. Momsen would like to get back to enjoying his son's graduation."

That unfortunate compelled soul was still holding the camera.

"Very well, then," Klaus declared, "Come on everyone, let's try this again."

/

Three hours later and Hope and Leah's graduation party was in full swing at the Compound.

Leah had changed into her white graduation dress and was now weaving in and out of the crowd. Although she just wanted to find Elijah, she kept bumping into other people everywhere she turned. Most of them were her and Hope's classmates; she wasn't sure how the other ones got here. For example:

"Rachel? Bethany? What are you doing here?!"

The two gangly girls wrapped themselves around Leah's tall frame like monkeys on a tree. Rachel (who was now 16, thank you very much) was dressed in an alarming shade of glittery pink that only someone her age would think was acceptable to wear in public.

"Holy Cross got an invite in the mail a week ago, everyone's here! Holy crap, is this where you _live, _Leah? It's like a castle! I want to go to college just like you…do they give everyone a castle when they graduate?"

Leah wasn't sure where to start with that question. The tiny one (who was at the age where wearing fairy wings in public was quite acceptable) tugged on the hem of her dress.

"We miss you, _Le-awh,_" Bethany wailed, hiding behind Rachel again.

"Aww, I miss you too, Little B."

Leah hugged them both again, suddenly remembering that things at Holy Cross must be in chaos with Davina gone. She reminded herself to talk to Elijah about whether there was anything they could do for the kids.

On second thought, she had a feeling he was already a step ahead of her.

After sending the girls back to their chaperone she resumed her search for Elijah to thank him for inviting her Holy Cross family.

Leah tried to listen for his voice, but the music was too loud. Before she could get a read, she bumped into someone who was clearly already three drinks in.

"Zach? Who invited you?"

"The scary tall dude in the suit, just turned up on my stoop the other day. Don't know how he knew my address…"

"Ah," was all Leah could say. They chatted for a bit, reminiscing over memories of several particularly fun and slightly illegal nights on the town. Eventually he left to bum a smoke and she dove back into the crowd.

The music was pulsing and the room with buzzing with a strong festive spirit. She saw Hope on the other side of the courtyard; she was with Aidan and they were clearly trying to steal a quiet moment away from the parentals.

Speaking of whom, Klaus was by the staircase, hiding in his scotch. The night had barely started and he had already found himself in hot water with both Hayley and Rebekah over something…likely Hope's choice of boyfriend.

Poor unfortunate soul—it was lucky he was immortal.

Leah pulled away from the scene and headed up the stairs to the upper balcony. Although the music was quieter up here, she still couldn't get a lock on Elijah.

Of course he would wander off just when she wanted to show him something.

The DJ had just switched to her favorite song (A_h! How'd they know!?_) and she was debating whether to just go back downstairs and dance.

She started to sing along to herself; she knew every word by heart.

"Hello."

Leah jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice.

"_Jesus Christ_, Elijah, don't sneak up on me like that!"

He was laughing at her, the smug bastard.

"Were you looking for me?"

"Yeah, actually, I wanted to show you something."

"Oh?"

She motioned with her head for him to follow her; she was leading him to the guest bedroom, the one she had stayed in temporarily over the winter break.

The room was immaculate, untouched since her stay. The only object out-of-place was the single red suitcase standing in the middle of the floor. It was spotted with little golden fleur-de-lis and it was packed and ready to go.

Lying on top of the suitcase was a book.

Elijah cautiously entered after her, unsure of what to expect.

"Leah, what is this?"

Prancing over to the suitcase, Leah picked up the book, holding it before her chest as she closed the distance between her and him.

He could read the cover loud and clear.

_Frommer's Complete Guide to Spain_

She was searching his face for a reaction, but it remained blank simply because he didn't know what exactly he was feeling. There was relief, but there was guilt; there was joy but still a cloud of doubt; he was unsure and anxious and afraid, but he was also incredibly proud of Leah, incredibly enamored with Leah, incredibly in love with Leah.

_Pity the fool who underestimates Leah St. Ann._

Elijah was most certainly a fool to be pitied.

His expression finally settled on curious resignation.

"How did you know?"

"You Mikaelsons are really bad when it comes to hiding places. That…_and…_you've been acting weird all week."

"Weird?" Elijah repeated slowly, not sure he had ever been called such in a thousand years.

_She taught him something new everyday._

"Elijah, if you want to tell me something or ask me something, you have to use your words. I'm a hybrid, not a psychic."

"I know you're not."

He realized that was a horribly insufficient response as soon as he said it; whatever he had planned to say to her on Friday had gone out the window when she held up that travel guide.

Elijah shifted.

He was really afraid of fucking this up.

"Then why didn't you tell me about the plane tickets, Elijah?"

She was staring him down; he wasn't sure if she was going to hit him with the book or not.

"You have been through a lot in the last two months, Leah. I wasn't sure if the sudden change of leaving New Orleans was what you really needed right now. Perhaps it would be better for you to stay here, with Hope and Aidan and the family you have built."

He couldn't read her expression. Had he assumed too much? Too little?

Were they on completely different pages?

He tried to back peddle. _  
_

"Then again, I'm sure you don't need me telling you what to do."

He was sure the book was coming for him now.

Instead, she threw the book on the bed, using her open hands to frame his face.

They were so close.

It was impossible now not to drown in her eyes; here in this room he felt just as helpless as on the open sea.

"Elijah," she began slowly. "Listen. We've been talking around each other for weeks. Why is that? Things have changed, yes, but you're still the man who took a chance and went after what he wanted, I'm still the girl who only ever just wanted a chance. I know we communicate _just fine_ without words; we've been speaking without talking since the very beginning. Remember the puzzle? I knew that was you who kept working on it in the night. It was like we were having a conversation, and it worked, it worked _then.._but not _now._ Sure, actions speak louder than words, Elijah, but if we keeping saying one thing and meaning another, then we've just two ships in the night, aren't we?"

Puzzles were best left for lazy Sunday afternoons; Leah believed it was best not to turn your life into one.

"Needs and wants are two different things, Elijah, you told me that. I want this, I want to go away with you: it's the opportunity to cut through all the noise and finally get the chance to really listen to each other. I want this and _I want you,_ Elijah, I…I stumbled into your life and you fought for me, against the witches, and Hayley and even against your own brother, to make sure I would never fall again. You...are...my anchor, but compared to you, I _am_ still a child, and there is still so much for me to do and see and learn."

Leah paused, finding the words she needed to say, the words he needed to hear.

The words she _wanted_ to say, the words he _wanted_ to hear.

Leah wasn't about to let a failure to communicate run their relationship onto the rocks; Honesty was the only thing that would bring this ship ashore.

"Please believe me when I say, I want nothing more than to do and see and learn everything _with you_, Elijah, but I can't promise you forever, if that is what you want from me. I may be a hybrid but I'm still only human and forever is a very long time," she laughed, "especially for us."

They were so lost in each other's eyes it took them a quiet minute to resurface.

Elijah really had been a fool.

She did want this.

She did want this_ too._

He pulled her hands away from his face, holding them in his own as he brought them to his lips with the tenderest of kisses.

"One day with you is worth every promise of tomorrow, Leah."

Her sob came out more of a laugh; she squeezed his hands tight, giving him an assuring nod.

"Then it's decided," she declared, with newfound determination.

One hand still entangled in his, she spun around to grab the handle of her suitcase.

"Come on, Elijah, let's get the fuck out of this city."

/

Leah took the stairs down to the courtyard two at a time. Elijah chased after her, a suitcase in each hand, her passport tucked in his breast pocket.

The party was still raging on.

"Leah! There you are!"

Hope snaked through the crowd to meet Leah at the bottom of the steps.

"Leah, where did you go? I wanted to introduce you to Philippe, he's a painter and he's actually quite funny and I even think dad likes him, which is really saying something, and—"

Leah threw up a hand.

"I'm sorry Hope, I really am, but we have to go."

Klaus now stood by his daughter with the entire bottle of scotch.

"Are you two going somewhere?"

"Yes," Elijah announced with a satisfied smirk that threw his brother for a loop.

"But the cake," Klaus whined, clearly already drunk. "We haven't even gotten to the best part…_there's a balloon drop, Elijah._"

"Sorry, Niklaus, but we are in a hurry."

"And what could possibly be so urgent at this hour?"

"We have a flight to catch, brother. I'll call you when we land."

He checked his watch, already imaging their first night in Madrid.

"On second thought-I won't. Leah, we need to go."

Ignoring her father's protests, Hope gave Leah a hug goodbye.

"You better send me a postcard."

"From every city, I promise."

"And don't get into too much trouble. We don't want any repeats of Miami, right?"

"Um, except this time I can just compel my way out of jail," she joked, winking at Hope to let her know that wasn't actually a joke.

"Don't worry, Hope, I'll bring your uncle back in one piece."

He was waiting for her by the gate to the garage. She had to go.

"Bye, Hope, enjoy the rest of the party and say _bye_ to Aidan for me, okay?"

Hope grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

"Happy graduation, Leah."

"You too, Hope."

She had to leave now or they'd be really late.

"Bye, Hope."

Leah was already making her way through the crowd to join Elijah. Hope yelled after her.

"Oh, and Leah?"

She turned back at the sound of her name.

"Yeah? What?"

"Go do some amazing things!"

**AN: YAY! Balloon drop on all my lovely readers! The next chapter is the last one—just a hint, it's an epilogue of sorts so we'll get to see everyone at the end of the summer! It may be a while before I get it posted-in the meantime, let me hear your thoughts! xo**


	41. The City

**AN: Here it is, the final installment. This is a **_**long **_**epilogue because I am having trouble letting go of all the characters I have grown to love! Thank you everyone who has ever left a review, chatted with me or offered suggestions—over 100,000 words and I thoroughly enjoyed writing every one of them! So, without further ado, I present the conclusion of **_**Freaks in the Middle.**_

**Late July**

She had left her phone back at the table, but it must have been close to midnight, not that you would have known; with all the neon lights and dancing bodies, the club was as steamy and alive as the hot July noon.

Leaning over the counter, Leah raised two fingers to get the bartender's attention before placing the order for her and the table.

Now waiting for him to return, she adjusted her dress and pulled her coppery hair up and off her sweaty neck with a hair-tie from her wrist. There was a Russian couple next to her giggling over cocktails and a group of loud American trust fund kids a bit down on the right. One of them gave her a wink and a smile that quickly slipped from flirtatious into creepy. She kind of hoped he would find the courage to come over and try to start a conversation; she had compelled the last guy who had tried to grope her on the dance floor to buy everyone another round and then promptly leave, go home, and think about his life choices.

Elijah hadn't thought that was amusing, but then again he would have just broken the kid's hand, so to each their own.

Lining up the row of shots, the bartender poured the vodka down the line with an entertaining flourish.

"For you, _mademoiselle_, that will be 63 euros."

"Sure, one sec."

She instinctively patted her chest for her wallet before remembering.

"Actually…what's your name?"

"Louis, miss."

"Ah, cool. Actually, Louis, Rebekah told me to just tell you I'm with her for the night."

"Rebekah _Mikaelson_? _The_ Rebekah Mikaelson?"

Leah raised her arm to show him her wrist. Instead of a neon tyvek wristband, she sported a solid gold bracelet with an emblem of double interlocking M's.

"Oh," he stuttered out, a bit stunned. "Désolé, miss, of course, on the house. Please pass on my congratulations and best wishes to Madame Mikaelson."

Leah simply responded with a smile as she gathered up the tiny glasses in both hands and waded her way back through the crowded and sweaty youths and up the stairs to the private rooms overlooking the dance floor. It was much quieter in the velvet rope section and sliding into the plush purple booth she was not at all surprised to discover that Klaus had yet to finish recounting the time he won a drinking competition against Cesare Borgia.

Nor did he seem to notice that the only one actually still listening was Philippe.

At Leah's arrival, Hope looked up expectantly like she was about to receive water in the desert; she took her shot glass from Leah and cradled it in both hands in front of herself on the table. Hayley acknowledged Leah's return but didn't say anything, still pretending to listen to Klaus who was now going on about Tuscany and Northern Italy in general.

She scooted along the bench until she bumped into Elijah; he threw his arm around her, leaning in close.

"I was afraid we had lost you."

"Sorry, it was slow going. I didn't want to spill anything."

"You didn't need to get these yourself, you know; Rebekah has us on table service all night."

Leah slid his drink in front of him, pushing two more across the table for whenever Klaus and Philippe stopped discussing Northern Italian Renaissance painting.

"I know," she chimed, setting the glasses on the table in front of everyone. "I don't mind—anyway, I needed the break from your brother's dramatic retelling of everything that has ever happened in Italy _ever_."

He chuckled, simultaneously noticing Hope's bored expression from across the table.

"He's slowly working his way to a point," Elijah pointed out.

"You wanna bet on that?"

"Fine, perhaps it's more accurate to say that Niklaus is…slowly circling around a point. Aren't I correct, brother?"

Elijah had to raise his voice to get Klaus' attention; what had started as story time had now simply turned into a very long soliloquy; everyone had turned back to their own conversations and even Philippe was now busy whispering in Rebekah's ear.

Hayley had to ram Klaus with her elbow to get him to shut up and answer his brother.

"Right about what now, Elijah?"

"I was saying simply that Rebekah has always wanted to get married in Italy, for the longest time, and that despite some unfortunate… mishaps… the last time we were there, we are all very happy that she will finally be able to live out her dream."

He raised his glass to his baby sister whose sunny smile was lighting up the room.

"Except this time," Rebekah cheerfully acclaimed, "there will be absolutely zero murder, no one will end up daggered, and my dress will be even lovelier than ever; I'm having it hand-made by the best _couturière_ in Paris—I've had the lace shipped in just last week from Calais. There was an issue with the embroidering, the head seamstress didn't think she could do it but I persuaded her otherwise…"

Hayley was trying not to laugh at the faces Klaus made whenever Rebekah started in on wedding details; you would think that he was truly the baby of the family, the way he pouted and wiggled impatiently as Rebekah went on and on about flowers and food and fabrics.

"…and the cathedral train is supposed to be over two yards but I've volunteered Hope to keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't get caught under anyone's feet."

No one was surprised that Rebekah had commissioned what sounded like the most-expensive fairy-princess dress anyone had ever been compelled to hand-stitch.

"I'm sure you will look lovely in it," Elijah warmly commented, blissfully ignorant of half the fashion terms she had just used.

"She would look lovely in anything," Philippe lauded, kissing his fiancée's hand in a romantic gesture that had Klaus rolling his eyes and opening a new bottle of champagne just for himself.

Hayley found all of this highly amusing; the mere idea of Rebekah dressed in white had sent Klaus into a tizzy. Klaus had been in a mood since the invitation to the engagement party had arrived at the plantation house. For a month he had moped around the manor, his perchance for extemporaneous sentimental speeches about his baby sister increasing daily. Hayley knew by now it was typical Klaus to become a tad overwhelmed at the thought of losing any of his siblings and while he had long since moved past the era of daggering them to keep them close, he was not (and likely would never be) at all thrilled at the idea of Rebekah getting married.

Rebekah had been wise to send the plane tickets in the invitation because even after calling him first to tell him her good news, Klaus was still so far in denial there was sand in his shoes.

And this was how everyone ended up meeting again in Paris: Elijah and Leah driving in from Germany; Hope, Hayley and Klaus flying in from the States and Rebekah hosting at her very own club, _Maison Mikaelson_.

Well, one of them at least. She had just opened her seventh in Prague three months ago.

"Let's play a game!" Hayley offered with sincere enthusiasm, trying to put the festivity back into this engagement party (emphasis on the party).

"A get-to-know-you game, perhaps?"

Elijah picked up on her meaning and ran with it.

"Fantastic idea, Hayley. I'm sure we could all benefit from knowing each other a little better, especially you Philippe, the soon to be newest member of our family. Since you have so bravely taken up the challenge, you deserve to know fully what you are getting yourself into. What do you all say?"

"Sounds like a plan," Klaus agreed, slapping his hand on the table; at this point, he was up for anything as long as it involved more liquor.

"Another round then?" Rebekah offered, motioning to a server who had been dutifully stationed by the door. "Okay, ten fingers and whoever is out first loses and has to…."

"Tell us their most embarrassing story," Leah volunteered.

"How positively wicked. Okay, Leah, you can start."

Over an hour later and half-way into the table's second case of wine, family game night had long since taken a turn which would have had any normal family shocked, appalled, and terribly concerned for the welfare of the children.

As if the Mikaelsons were anywhere even _close_ to normal.

Nor did it help that this family took any and all games _very seriously. _

"Never have I ever…been daggered."

Leah, Hayley and Rebekah were all losing horribly, which was highly entertaining to everyone else at the table. The three of them were now determined to get each other out, to the point where Klaus was laughing and Elijah was cringing and Philippe was wondering if there was ever a more dysfunctional family.

Hayley continued her crusade to get Leah and Rebekah to put down their remaining fingers; she never played a game she knew she couldn't win and she wasn't ready to start losing now.

"You already asked that!" Leah screeched across the table. "During the first round, _I'm sure_."

"No," Hayley pointed out, far more firmly than was probably required. "I said 'never had I ever daggered _someone else_."

"Which was clearly targeted at me, love," Klaus pointed out, uncorking another bottle.

"Whatever, it's still my turn, so come on, never have I ever been daggered."

"Low," Elijah smirked, as he and his sister drank.

Rebekah glared at Hayley, not ready to go down without a fight.

"Never have I ever slept with a Mikaelson."

"Rebekah!"

"Drink, Philippe, Leah…_Hayley_," the blonde beamed victoriously.

Hope hid her face in her hands. She still had most of her fingers up and was glad for the sake of her soul.

"Is it my turn, _Rebekah?_" Hayley demanded.

"Oh no," Rebekah announced with sinful glee. "You have to drink twice."

Hayley, among others, looked confused.

"Why?"

"Nik…_and Elijah._"

"That's not how it works!" Hayley argued, more concerned about points than the fact that half the people at the table looked like they wanted to die.

"It's my party, my rules. Drink."

You would have thought Hayley was drinking acid with the face she was making.

"Okay then, hardball it is." She raised her glass as if making a toast. "Never have I ever…slept with a vampire."

_Oh for the love of God_, Hope thought.

"Um no, Nik—"

"—is a hybrid."

"Technicality."

"Drink!" Hayley ordered Rebekah with all the authority of a Roman emperor feeding someone to the lions.

Hope went bright red as all but her and Hayley drank. Elijah wasn't so sure Rebekah's fiancé wasn't getting cold feet.

"Ladies, why don't we try to spare poor Philippe—"

"Oh, no," Hayley interrupted, "if he wants to join this family, then he plays, and it's his turn."

Everyone looked at the witch expectantly yet none were too surprised when he rose to the occasion.

"_Je suis __d'accord__ avec vous_." Philippe raised her glass with renewed confidence. "I must nobly prove my worth, right dear? Okay, then let me see…never have I ever… been… dead."

"Bloody hell," Rebekah swore taking her shot. Elijah grinned, impressed at the witch's ability to take down the majority of the table in one turn. Downing his drink, he pulled Leah closer to him.

"I'm afraid this is what passes for entrainment in this family," he apologized ruefully.

"Nonsense, I'm really enjoying myself. Bring on the popcorn."

Ten minutes later and the rest of the table had just given up, enthusiastically becoming spectators in the epic final round between Hayley and Rebekah; they had hijacked the game, thrown the points and rules out the window and were now just trying to get the other to admit defeat.

Which meant the 'never have I evers' had gotten really, really specific.

"Never have I ever had a threesome with the daughter of the vampire my brother hunted for over five hundred years."

Elijah might have actually flinched. Klaus burst out into laughter until Rebekah threw a fork at him; it embedded itself in the wood paneling above his head.

Leah and Hope were taking bets across the table on who would concede first.

Philippe did the smart thing and pretended he wasn't listening at all.

Hayley smiled smugly, believing she had struck the killing blow, but Rebekah wasn't going down without taking her adversary with her.

"Never have I ever been in a relationship with a hybrid who slept with the mother of his brother's girlfriend."

There was a definite lag at the table as everyone caught up…and then…

"Jesus Christ, Bekah."

"Bloody hell, Rebekah, that was not common knowledge!"

"WHAT?! Dad, _whhyyy_?"

Leah was laughing so hard it was a good thing she didn't need to breathe.

"You all have _got_ to be kidding me. Oh man…this is fucking hilarious."

It was definitely time to end the game. Klaus took the lead.

"Okay, 'Bekah, we all agree, you win, darling. Congratulations, that's three in a row, shall we call it quits and order another round, yes?"

Philippe locked eyes with a man across the room before turning to Rebekah.

"I'll be back, dear. I think I see my coven leader and I should say _hello_."

He left her to rest on her freshly acquired laurels with a peck on the cheek.

"Okay," Leah decided, downing her shot, and resting a hand on Elijah's arm. "I'm gonna go dance away the awkward…Hope, join me?"

"Fuck yes, _please_."

They left in a flash before Elijah could even chide Hope for her language, leaving the three siblings and Hayley alone at the table.

"Sorry," Rebekah apologized to her eldest brother. "Guess I got carried away."

"Not at all; that is surprisingly not the first family secret to bubble up like that. Leah takes it all in stride."

"Yes, it's quite remarkable: that girl of yours, Elijah, has a serious tolerance for our complete and utter nonsense. She has a good head on her shoulders…so I really have no clue what she sees in you," Rebekah added with a sly smile.

"I was about to say the same about Philippe," Elijah joked. "…So am I to assume she passed your test?"

"Flying colors, big brother."

For a while they just listened to the music floating in from the dance floor, their stupid, content smiles growing large at the thought of how much their lives had changed in the span of a single year.

"Who would have thought?" Rebekah sighed, breaking the silence between them.

"That our little sister would ever become an honest woman?" Klaus teased.

"No, _Nik_," she frowned, slapping him on the arm. "Who would have thought we'd all be happy one day."

Elijah simply grinned into his drink; Rebekah smiled mischievously.

"Yes, even you, Elijah. You can't hide it, especially not from me."

Even Klaus had to agree, in his own way.

"Well you certainly have become less of a pompous, pretentious pain-in-my-arse since you two left on your Euro trip."

"Thank you, brother. I will take that as a compliment."

"And she's even gotten you out of your stuffy suits," Rebekah remarked. "Color me impressed."

"Speaking of," Niklaus began, "you left quite of bit of your stuff at the manor, Elijah. Should I have it moved to the Compound or shipped to Bourdeilles?"

The eldest Original narrowed his eyes; the details weren't quite finalized but he might as well tell everyone now.

"Actually, Leah and I have decided to settle somewhere entirely different."

/

Out on the dance floor, Hope had been introducing Leah to the best of French house music for the last forty minutes or so. As one song began to merge into the next, the two began to bop their way out from the middle of the mob, seeking somewhere off the dance floor to rest their sore feet.

"How's the Crescent City without me?"

Even with her better than average hearing, Hope had to get nose to nose with Leah to hear over the music.

"What? Oh, yeah, never the same, Leah, not without you. Dad and I went flat shopping last week, I think we found something we both like – it has big windows and a balcony and everything."

Hope motioned with her bangled arm toward the bar and the two of them decided to take a break from dancing somewhere where they didn't have to yell.

Louis, the bartender from earlier, was ready for them with another round of shots. He gave Leah a toothy smile, hoping she would put in a good word for him with the mysterious, eponymous owner of _Maison Mikaelson._

He couldn't help but eavesdrop as they took a seat and began to chat.

"I can't believe your folks are letting you move out," said the one with the odd American accent.

"My next move is to convince them to let Aidan move in with me," said the one who must have spent some time in England.

Or…Australia? He was never sure. From business billionaires to the heirs to small island kingdoms, the Who's Who from around the world always found their way to Paris' most famous (infamous on most nights) nightclub.

But to personally know Rebekah Mikaelson? That was a rarity indeed.

"A little early for moving in together, don't you think?"

"Says the girl who ran off to Europe with a man fifty times her age."

He had definitely heard that wrong. Louis pretended to wipe down a perfectly clean counter so he could continue to listen in on their bizarre conversation.

"Age is relative, Hope."

"Well then so is time. And anyway, now that his life belongs to the business school and he's going to end up practically sleeping there with group projects and presentations and stuff, I'm not going to get to see him as often, especially if we live on different sides of the city."

"Hope Mikaelson, hopeless romantic or cutthroat pragmatist?"

Hope Mikaelson? As in Rebekah _Mikaelson? _As in_ Maison Mikaelson?_

Well hot damn, so she was an heiress.

"Actually, I prefer promising politician and adorable advocate for the supernatural community. Dad's letting me get more involved in the Faction; my name will even get to be on the new constitution when it's finally finished."

_Did she say…supernatural community? _

"You should come to one of the meetings when you get back to town, I'm sure dad would love another member on Team Hybrid. You guys could get t-shirts and everything."

"Actually…I don't think I will be back in New Orleans anytime soon. Elijah and I still have a few cities in Europe to visit, then we're doing August around the Mediterranean…and then we're flying right back into Logan before Labor Day."

"Logan…airport? As in Boston…? You're moving north - what on earth for?"

"Well…I don't know, we just wanted to settle into our own a bit more. New Orleans is for you, and Aidan, and Klaus and your mom—Elijah and I want our own little kingdom to rule."

"So," Hope teased, circling her empty glass with a finger, "are you trying to say…things with you and my uncle are getting more serious?"

_Her uncle? How many Mikaelsons were there? _

"I'm surprised you asked because I _know_ you don't want to hear the details, but short answer—yes. Ugh, yes, it's just pure perfection, we balance each other out so well—he's like so patient when I'm like bouncing off the walls and then we switch and he's the one who gets all excited and challenges me to try new things, new places, new experiences, new posit-" a beat, "oh, shit, I'm sorry. I should stop."

Hope was definitely going to need another drink; she placed a hand on Leah's arm.

"No, really, that all sounds wonderful, you deserve all the happiness in the world, honestly," she said sincerely, "but yeah, please for the love of God stop there."

The redhead's laugh was so infectious he found himself smiling as he continued to clean out mugs within earshot.

"Hope, let me just say, there is nothing you don't want to hear that hasn't already been brought to light in that last round of 'never had I ever.'"

"Oh, God, why did you remind me, I had almost forgotten. Sir, two vodka tonics, please? _Merci mille fois_."

He gladly obeyed, grabbing the most expensive vodka from the top shelf.

"But, really...Boston, Leah? Uh_, __pas de glace_ - no ice, thank you."

He set down two new tumblers before both of them. She forgot to show him her gold bracelet but he wouldn't have charged such an enchanting creature anyway.

"Why Boston? I thought you were moving into the Aquitaine castle."

"Uhh, Southern France is a lot of vineyards and not much else. It's nice for a week or so, but I tend to go stir crazy after a few days if I'm not in the middle of things…and hybrid crazy can be…uhh…let's say…unpleasant… for anyone in a five-mile radius."

"So then you should move anywhere but Boston."

Leah set down her glass on the coaster, amused by the bartender's attempts to be subtle. She was so sure he was going to come up and talk to her but maybe he didn't even know himself. She sure hadn't.

Poor thing. She knew from experience that it was rough finding out the hard way.

Pulling a bill from her bra that was doubling as her wallet, she grabbed a pen from behind the counter and scribbled something on a hundred euro note before setting it under her empty glass.

"I thought you were supposed to be happy for me," Leah teased, clicking the end of the pen and putting it back.

Hope got up from her stool and Leah followed suit.

"Oh, I am. I'm just saying Germany has better beer."

Louis thanked the two young ladies, gathering up their empty glasses and his extremely generous tip. Dropping the glasses in the small sink further down the counter, he unfolded the note to read the message, secretly hoping it was a phone number.

It wasn't.

_Try not to kill anyone, __loup__-__garou Lou. xo_

Utterly confused, he turned around but the two princesses were gone.

/

**Early September**

The door to his office was ajar but she still knocked before entering.

"Come in," he said before looking up from his lesson plans.

"Hello, Professor Mikaelson."

At the sound of her voice, he closed his laptop, leaning back into his chair with a welcoming gesture.

The sun was streaming through the trees outside his window, flooding the office with a warm afternoon glow. Below him, the quad was buzzing with undergraduates, but up here on the third floor of the political science building, the halls were still and abandoned, both students and faculty having fled to enjoy the cool autumn afternoon.

Elijah had just been planning tomorrow's lecture when the student had arrived.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?"

She slung her messenger bag off her shoulder and plopped it in the chair as if it were her living room and not the office of the government department's most distinguished visiting scholar.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you. It is office hours after all, yeah?"

"For my students, yes," he admitted. He eyed the class roster tacked over his computer.

"However, it appears that you are not my student. In fact, you aren't even in this department."

She shrugged, ignoring the details and taking a seat on the edge of his desk. Leaning back on one arm, she gently corrected him with a single raised finger.

"You mean it's _fortunate_ I'm not your student, or I probably couldn't do this."

He leaned in from his chair to meet her kiss.

"Leah, you are determined to get me in trouble," he hummed.

"Uh-huh, then maybe you should lock your door."

"Mmm, to be honest I was hoping you would stop by."

She ran a hand around the back of his head and along his jaw before leaning back onto both hands, palms on the desk.

"I did text you I would be done at four."

He shuffled a stack of papers on his desk, sticking them in a folder and setting them behind her on the desk to remember to take them home with him tonight.

"And how was class today?"

She pretended to think as she wiggled out of her sweater, peeling the sleeves off her arms in a long, dramatic motion.

The sun was slanting onto her copper hair; it reminded him of mornings in Marrakesh.

"Just like every other first day of school, high excitement and higher expectations. Though, it's funny—I think the history chair is still scratching her head how I managed to slip onto her roster at the last minute. It's funny how they don't quite remember ever reading my application, but they are 'excited to have me here today' nonetheless. As much as I did not enjoy my time compelled, it does come in handy when you decide to enroll in grad school after the deadline."

"It was your idea. I thought it would be better for you to sit out a year or two."

"And miss all the fun?" She laughed. "There are so many people here - from all over the world! Don't give me that face, I'm not going to eat them; instead, I'm gonna sublimate with food for thought and intellectual nourishment. With five hours of homework a night, there's no way I have time for a murdering spree."

Elijah conceded with a chuckle, loosening his tie. Leah had been slowly teaching him that the humorous route was often the most scenic; all his worries seemed to melt at the sound of her laughter.

"You have certainly convinced me on that point, though still, I would have thought you'd at least want a gap year; you have all the time in the world to go back to school."

"I'm not going to procrastinate just because I have a thousand and one tomorrows, Elijah. And anyway, if I am ever gonna catch up with you, I better start on those MDs and PhDs now. It's gonna take me 30 years at least to surpass your six degrees. Maybe I'll do law next…"

"You'd be a frightful lawyer."

She furrowed her brow, daring him to explain.

"'Frightful' as in terror inspiring or 'frightful' as in_ terrible_?"

"I plead the fifth."

"Elijah!"

She made to hit him with the back of her hand but he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap instead. He kept a hand around her wrist, rubbing the smooth silver of her bracelet dotingly with his thumb.

Someone screamed down in the quad below but it quickly turned into loud and raucous laughter. For a moment, Leah was lost in a memory of her and Hope, the first time she had visited the plantation house back in New Orleans. They had put off doing the reading for their professor (who had turned out to be her father…what a twist) and spent an afternoon just like this in the pool, laughing at the top of their lungs out of sheer delight for being alive.

_The leaves change colors much earlier here_, she found herself thinking.

Elijah ran a finger along her cheek before gently pulling her attention back to him. He had gotten better at telling when she had a lot of thoughts but not a lot of words for them.

"Leah, are you having second thoughts about moving to Boston?"

"What? No, no, I was just thinking we should drive around and see the famous New England fall foliage. I want to send Hope a million pictures. Can we do it this weekend?"

Elijah was not surprised she had already forgotten; Leah was still adjusting to her new hybrid life and often seemed to take _everything_ a day at a time.

"Next weekend, Leah. This week is the Shakespeare festival."

Her eyes suddenly became very large and still, like those of a predator trying to lure in its prey.

Perhaps he had been incorrect thinking that she had forgotten.

_Oh._

She was giving him _those eyes_, which meant he wasn't going to like what she said next.

"Speaking of, I know you've had those tickets to _Twelfth Night_ forever, but…"

"_Leah…"_

"…hey, hear me out…_but_…can we return them or something and drive into New York instead Friday night?"

Elijah sighed, revealing his frustration. There had been several times in Europe when they had missed a train or walked the same avenue twice because Leah hadn't been able to decide what to do or where to go next.

Or she had, and then changed her mind ten seconds later.

Elijah closed his eyes, taking a second to remind himself that although her capriciousness often came off as childish and immature at its worse, he nonetheless loved it and loved her and could use some spontaneity in his life.

Still, if she was ever going to complete this history degree a certain level of commitment would be nice.

"Leah, we've had these tickets for weeks."

She frowned, recognizing the same tone of voice he had used at four in the morning at St. Pancras station, which had been completely uncalled for since they had gotten to Glasgow _eventually._

"It's not like the theater is going anywhere, Elijah."

"Neither is New York City I presume."

"Well, haven't you already seen this thing a million times already?"

"That is not the point, Leah. I want to see it _with you_…which, yes, means you will actually have to stand still and sit tight for over an hour, which you seem to have lost the ability to do entirely of late."

Leah was wondering if she had to remind him again that he wasn't actually her teacher.

"For the record, I was asking if we could reschedule because Aidan sent me a text this morning that his dad is giving a guest lecture at NYU this Friday, so incidentally, I'm asking to reschedule _not_ because I have the attention span of a goldfish or because I'm trying to drive you insane on purpose."

_Oh._

_Okay, so clearly he still had a lot to learn about effective communicating in a relationship. Learning was a life-long endeavor after all._

"So, Friday—we're going to your father's lecture?"

Her tone was as steely as her glare.

"I'll go whether you want to come along or not, I'm not asking, I'm just letting you know."

Well, he'd definitely backed himself right into a lovely little corner, which was quite appropriate since Elijah felt he probably needed to sit for a while and think about what he had just done.

Because if he had really thought it through, it would become clear that the incident in London and his frustration over the play wasn't about tickets at all.

Which Leah had already figured out.

"Elijah, this isn't about tickets at all, is it? What's the real issue here - are you… are you afraid I can't make the commitment?"

"To your studies?"

Rebekah was right - _so oblivious sometimes._

"No, you idiot, to you."

He just stared at her dumfounded, unable to say anything, astonished she had called him an idiot and even more astonished that he indeed was one.

Afraid she might have overloaded his system, Leah slung her arms around Elijah's neck.

"Hey listen, I read this article once about love languages and how people communicate, you know, some people need to hear things and some people need to see them and some people can _just know_ and that's perfectly fine. But I think you need to hear this, and I realize I haven't said it aloud, to you, because honestly it sounds weird even in my head, but I love you, Elijah, I really, really do; I like crazy, stupid, love you."

She reached up fix his hair with a pensive smile.

"Not sure when it happened, these things kind of just sneak up on you, you know?"

"I know," he finally mustered, running his hands along her arms, sheer unbridled happiness coursing through his veins. "I most certainly do."

He tucked her curls back into place one ambrosial strand at a time.

"And I hope that you can feel and see and know that I love you too, Leah, my darling, darling Leah. Please forgive what I said earlier and how I acted this summer; sometimes even I cannot recognize what I feel, and so I am utterly hopeless at voicing it."

"It's only human, Elijah," she laughed. "I mean you can't be perfect _all the time_, right? Look, I can't always get myself to say it but you don't have to worry that I don't _feel it._ I might change my shirt seven times before I leave the house but my feelings for you are not gonna change. You are my anchor, Elijah. You keep me grounded when I just can't help feeling like a freak in the middle of this crazy, terrifying, wonderful dream world I've somehow wandered into. You are my partner in crime, and nothing's gonna change my mind about that. So stop worrying so much, Elijah…the stress will kill you."

He gathered her into his arms so fast that she squeaked in surprise, giggling furiously as he buried his kisses in the hollow of her neck.

"Elijah!" She protested, glancing at the door. "We should wait, you still have office hours!"

Not that she cared in the slightest, but she did enjoy torturing him.

And anyway, he deserved a little punishment for the grief he'd given her about the tickets.

"No one ever comes to those," he mumbled through butterfly kisses.

His fingers were already starting to ease up the hem of her shirt when she grabbed him, holding his wandering hands in check.

"But there are other offices on this floor!"

She was doing this on purpose, he knew; he could tell she was trying really hard to keep a straight face as he continued his assault on her ear and her neck and her shoulder.

"Let them come, I don't care, let the whole campus know, let the whole city know."

"That's how we got run out of Brussels."

_Oh cruel mistress._

She was really trying to make him suffer.

Leah might want to rethink law school since she clearly didn't realize cruel and unusual punishment was illegal.

"Then let them run us from every city in the world—we'll wait three generations then do it all again. All we have is time."

She released her firm grip on his hands with a mischievous twinkle, taking pity on him at last, setting them free to wander lower and lower down her back.

"Well then, _if music be the food of love_," she quoted, "_play on._"

With a sweep of his hand, Elijah brushed all his neat piles of folders off the desk, clearing space to lay her down, sending papers flying onto the floor like leaves falling from the trees outside.

"I most certainly will," he promised her.

_And Elijah Mikaelson always kept his promises._

THE END


End file.
